Jesus accepts his cross
I have come to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it was blazing already. There is a baptism I must still receive and what constraint I am under until it is completed. (Lk 12, 49–50)
I shall take up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I shall fulfill my vows to him in the midst of all his people. (Ps 116, 13–14)
Lord Jesus, by willingly accepting the cross in obedience to the Father, you set us free from the debt that stood against us. We cannot save ourselves through our own efforts; nor by those same efforts can we earn eternal life.
Loving Lord, I place my trust in God the Father, and humbly accept the cross by which he draws me to himself. I choose to walk with you, Jesus, in carrying my cross. I gladly share in your sufferings as the Christ, my teacher, my brother and my friend. As you go now to die for my sins, so too do I die to sin, trusting that as I die with you, so shall I live in you forever.
May I live in obedience to your command to love my neighbour as myself, and to love my brothers and sisters as you love them. As I, within one human family, share the burden of the sufferings of my brothers and sisters, so may you use me to bring hope to the needy, to the sick, to the underprivileged and the oppressed.
Lord Jesus Crucified, have mercy.