Third Station

℣. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
℟. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Wearied by the agony of Gethsemane, tortured by the scourging and the crowning with thorns, exhausted by fasting, Jesus falls for the first time beneath the enormous weight of the cross.

Jesus fell to sustain those who fall. Many are the temptations of the devil, of the flesh, and of the world.
Lead us not into temptation, O Lord, but deliver us from all evil—past, present, and future.

Have mercy on us, O Lord.
Have mercy on us.

Holy Mother, etc.

Christ above in torment hangs,
She beneath beholds the pangs
Of her dying glorious Son.

Quae moerebat et dolebat,
Pia Mater, dum videbat
Nati poenas inclyti.

p. 183