The Tenth Station: Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments
We adore you O Christ and we praise you.
Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Remember
They divided my clothing among them. They cast lots for my robe’ (Mt 27:35).
In this station we remember all who are jobless and homeless.
There are ups and downs, trials and tests in every human life.
Every manger casts a dark shadow but God is also there.
In Jesus’s life from swaddling clothes to a stripped off garment
that is diced in a game where ‘lots’ are bartered for his robe.
Jesus, once called the Bridegroom (Mt 25:6) 
endures shame, reproach, derision and contempt.
Here in this station,
our degraded Lord honours, heals and holds all
whose bodily dignity is outraged and abused.
Here is God’s covenant of grace sealed by his suffering.
No gilded throne, no weighty sceptre,
no intricate, dogmatic definition of the deposit of faith.
We have a Christ who is ‘Hosanna in the lowest’ all the way down to us.
Reflection
‘Stand and stare not at what used to be
and remain not in the past.
For I, says he, make new beginnings.
Look, all things are new, do you not see?’
(Huub Oosterhuis, Dutch Liturgist and Composer)
Pray
We proclaim your Death, O Lord,
and profess your resurrection
until you come again.
And we believe
You will come again.
Please do
Amen
Sing
1 Soul of my Saviour, sanctify my breast,
body of Christ, be thou my saving guest,
blood of my Saviour, bathe me in thy tide,
wash me with water flowing from thy side.
2 Strength and protection may thy Passion be,
O blessed Jesus, hear and answer me;
deep in thy wounds, Lord, hide and shelter me,
so shall I never, never part from thee.
3 Guard and defend me from the foe malign,
in death’s dread moments make me only thine;
call me and bid me come to thee on high
where I may praise thee with thy saints for ay.’
(‘Soul of My Saviour’: Ascribed to Pope John XXII, 1249–1334)
Thanks
Our Thanks go to John Cullen, P.P., author of the book ‘Calvary Covenant’ and Donal Neary, S.J. author of ‘Gospel Reflections for the Sundays of Year B’: Mark for the use of their books published by Messenger publications, c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
