The Stations of the Cross
for Alcoholics
Paul Sofranko, with photography by Rose Sofranko
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Paul Sofranko and Rose Sofranko
Smashwords Edition, License Note
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.
The First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death
The Second Station: Jesus Takes Up His Cross
The Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time
The Fourth Station: Jesus Meets Mary His Mother
The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross
The Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
The Seventh Station: Jesus Falls the Second Time
The Eighth Station: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
The Ninth Station: Jesus Falls the third Time
The Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Clothes
The Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross
The Thirteenth Station: Jesus’ Body is Removed from the Cross
The Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Buried
Welcome to this devotional booklet “The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics.”
The Stations are an ancient devotion in the Catholic Faith, usually said in Catholic parishes during Lent. Individuals for their own spiritual development often say them throughout the year.
The first page of each Station is a brief prayer (familiar to Catholics who practice the Stations in Lent) followed by a brief meditation on that Station’s theme.
The photographs are from Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Hamburg, NY, USA, and were taken by my wife, Rose Sofranko. She also has a website at Artist4God.net.
I hope they help sort out the pain and suffering of alcoholism, and bring some help and relief.
This book is merely intended for spiritual growth and progress, it promises nothing more.
Thank you, and my prayers are with you on your sober journey.
Paul S
The First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death
We adore You, O Christ and We Praise You.
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the World
In this First Station of the Cross, we see how Jesus stood before His human judge and humbly allowed judgment to be passed upon Him. We meditate on how we ourselves have dealt with the judgments of others on our alcoholic past.
Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Israel. He has been accused of crimes He did not commit. He also offers no defense to his accusers. Jesus was innocent of the things He was charged with. We, however, were guilty of the things that we did while we were drinking and drugging. People had right reason to condemn us for our actions. We hurt others, disappointed many, and in general behaved irresponsibly. All to varying degrees, of course, but all of us had caused pain in other people.
Have we borne our offenses with the same humility as did Jesus? He had every right and justification, in light of human reason, to fight back against His accusers. But He took it silently, offering no defense. He turned the other cheek, if you will. How have we reacted to the pain and resentment sent our way by the people we had hurt? We deserve the lack of trust that others have shown us, and the cold treatment that takes a long time to thaw. But did He deserve His agony?
We had committed wrongs against others during our drinking periods. We have no reason now to make excuses or to offer up any defense for our actions. We must seek to make amends when possible and appropriate. But to bristle with annoyance, or to blame it on the addiction and excusing it that way is not the way to maintain sobriety.
Everyone dies a little death when confronted with evidence of his or her own wrongdoing. It is our conscience reacting to our less-than-exemplary behavior. Our addiction was the root cause of the behavior, but we cooperated with it. That part of ourselves that carried the behavior forward is purged. Our remorse and repentance helps to get rid of that character defect. We are different than before. Better, if we amend the relationships and ask what else can be done to repair it?
In this First Station of the Cross, an innocent Man is condemned to death. In our own First Station of the Cross, the person condemned to death is our addictive self. Even if we had been clean and sober for years, meditating on this can help keep that person dead.
The Second Station: Jesus Takes up His Cross
We adore You, O Christ and We Praise You.
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the World
In this Second Station of the Cross, we see how Jesus accepts and takes up His Cross. We meditate on how well we, as His disciples, have accepted our own Crosses.