The Seraphic Way of the Cross

Introduction

The year 2026 marks the 800th anniversary of the Transitus, the passing over of St. Francis of Assisi from this earthly life to eternal glory. This centenary is the majestic conclusion of a four-year journey that retraced the Poverello’s final years: from the Nativity at Greccio to the reception of the Stigmata at La Verna and the composition of the Canticle of the Creatures.

To pray the Way of the Cross during this Jubilee Year is to enter into the “spirituality of conformation,” where we recognize St. Francis as the Alter Christus (Another Christ), whose life was a living icon of the Passion of Jesus.

The Stations of the Cross are an inherently Franciscan gift to the Church. In the 14th century, the friars became guardians of the Holy Land, and when distance made pilgrimage impossible, they brought the Via Dolorosa to the world through these fourteen markers of prayer. In Franciscan theology, the Cross is not merely a site of suffering, but a revelation of the “humility of the Incarnation” and the “charity of the Passion”. We do not walk this path as spectators, but as participants, seeking to be “transformed into the Beloved” by the fire of divine love.

As we begin this pilgrimage, we look to the final moments of St. Francis at the Portiuncula, where he asked to be laid naked on the bare earth, embracing “Sister Bodily Death” with a song of praise. We invite the “Little Poor Man” of Assisi to guide our steps, that our own bitterness may be turned into “sweetness of soul and body” as we encounter the Crucified Lord in the poor, the outcast, and the brokenness of our own hearts.

Preparatory Prayer

(Before the San Damiano Cross)

“Most High, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity, sense and knowledge, Lord, that I may carry out Your holy and true command.”

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You. People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

The First Station: Jesus is condemned to Death

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You. People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation Jesus, the most innocent, who neither did nor could commit a sin, is condemned to a disgraceful death to satisfy the crowd. In the life of St. Francis, this station is mirrored in his public trial before the Bishop of Assisi. Just as Jesus was condemned by the powers of his day, Francis was “condemned” and rejected by his family and the mercantile society of Assisi for choosing a life of penance.

By stripping himself of his garments and renouncing his earthly father, Pietro di Bernardone, Francis accepted a form of social death. He chose the path of Minoritas, becoming a “lesser one,” identifying with the condemned Christ rather than the status and security of the world. As we mark the 800th year of his Transitus, we recall that Francis’ journey to eternal life began with this radical “sentence” of poverty, proving that to be “brought low” in the eyes of the world is the only way to be exalted in the sight of God.

Prayer O Innocent Jesus, I am truly guilty of the pride and selfishness that condemned You. Through the intercession of St. Francis, give me the grace to “renounce gladly the vanities of this world.” Help me to seek the approval of the Father alone and to find my true identity not in my possessions or my reputation, but in being a “lesser one” who follows in Your footsteps.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified, 

People: Have mercy on us!

At the cross her station keeping, 

Stood the mournful Mother weeping, 

Close to Jesus to the last.

The Second Station: Jesus is made to carry His Cross

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You. People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation When our Divine Saviour beheld the cross, He willingly stretched out His bleeding arms, lovingly embraced it, and tenderly kissed it. For St. Francis, this moment of embrace occurred at the broken-down church of San Damiano. While he was praying intensely before the image of the Crucified, the Lord spoke to him: “Francis, go repair my house, which, as you see, is falling into ruin.”

Francis did not hesitate; he accepted this mission as his cross, moving from “selfish pursuits to becoming a servant of the poor.” This station highlights the Franciscan virtue of Obedience, founded on Christ’s surrender of His own will to the Father on the “altar of the cross.” Francis realized that the “house” he was called to rebuild was not just a structure of stone, but the living Church itself, and he took up this weight with an “exuberance of a new beginning.” We recall that Francis viewed the cross as a “sweet yoke” and a “light burden” because it was the means of his transformation into the image of Christ.

Prayer O my Jesus, I cannot be Your friend and follower if I refuse to carry the cross. Through the example of St. Francis, give me the grace to hear Your “marching orders” in the silence of my heart. Help me to “kiss the cross” of my own life, my struggles, my responsibilities, and my call to serve, knowing that when I take on Your work, I am never carrying the weight alone. May I be a “living stone” that helps to repair Your Church through a life of prayer and selflessness.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified, 

People: Have mercy on us!

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing, 

All His bitter anguish bearing, 

Now at length the sword has passed.

The Third Station: Jesus falls the First Time

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

Our Saviour, carrying the cross, was so weakened by its heavy weight that He fell exhausted to the ground. In the life of St. Francis, this “first fall” is seen in his failed military journey to Spoleto. Setting out with dreams of becoming a knight, he fell ill and was forced to return home, facing the mockery of his neighbours and the collapse of his worldly ambitions.

Franciscan spirituality teaches that these falls are our “credentials for being human,” reminding us that we often stumble when we try to succeed by our own efforts alone. The world seeks the hardness of the sword; Francis chose the flexibility of the Cross. One shatters, the other endures; we are called to learn the wisdom of triumphing through our crosses rather than in spite of them. By falling, Jesus identified with all who are face down on the ground, teaching us that the Spirit of God remains in us even in our moments of defeat.

Prayer

O my Jesus, You bore the heavy weight of my sins, making Your cross “galling and insupportable”. Through the intercession of St. Francis, help me to accept my own limitations and failures without bitterness. When I am tempted to take on more than I can do or to seek only my own success, remind me that “the Father wants me, not my successes”. Give me the strength to get up and follow You again on the path of penance and peace.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

O, how sad and sore distressed

Was that Mother highly blessed

Of the sole-begotten One!

The Fourth Station: Jesus meets His Sorrowful Mother

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You. People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation Consider the meeting of the Son and the Mother. What unspeakable pangs her tender heart experienced as she beheld her child disfigured with wounds and blood. In Franciscan spirituality, this encounter is the meeting of two hearts perfectly conformed to the “humility of the Incarnation.” St. Francis held a singular devotion to Mary, naming her the “Queen of Virtues” because he saw in her the perfect model of Lady Poverty.

He often meditated with tears on the poverty of Jesus and His Mother, noting that the same God who “hung upon human breasts” was now the one hanging upon the wood of the cross. For Francis, Mary was the “Gate of Life” and the “way of our reconciliation,” the one who shared the King of Kings’ poverty from the manger at Greccio to the heights of Calvary. When we, like Mary and Francis, stay “at the cross her station keeping,” refusing to look away from the suffering of the Beloved, we too become the helping shoulders of the burdened.

Prayer O Jesus, by the merit of this sorrowful meeting, grant me a true and lasting devotion to Your Most Holy Mother. Through the intercession of St. Francis, give me the grace to recognize the “humility of God” in all things. O Mother of Sorrows, let me participate in the sufferings You and Your Son endured for me, that my heart may be “enlightened in its darkness” and my life may become a “living nativity” of Your love.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified, 

People: Have mercy on us!

Is there one who would not weep, 

whelmed in miseries so deep, 

Christ’s dear Mother to behold?

The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus Carry the Cross

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

As Jesus’ physical strength fails, the soldiers compel Simon of Cyrene to help Him carry the heavy wood of the cross. In the life of St. Francis, this station represents the birth of Fraternity, the moment he realized that he was not called to walk the path of the Gospel alone. Just as Simon was brought in to share the weight of the Passion, Francis was joined by his first brothers, Bernardo di Quintavalle and Pietro Cattani, who were moved by his simple and radical life of penance.

Franciscan spirituality teaches that the Order is not a hierarchy of power, but a “circular” fraternity where everyone is a “lesser one” (Fratres Minores), called to serve and care for one another. By accepting help, Jesus honours our humanity and reminds us that care shown to our neighbour is care shown to Christ Himself. Let us reflect on the “prophecy of fraternity” as an alternative to a world based on power, recognizing that we are all peacemakers called to bear one another’s burdens.

Prayer

O my Jesus, You accepted the help of a stranger to teach us the “joy of being able to forgive” and the necessity of community. Through the intercession of St. Francis, give me the grace to be a true brother or sister to those I meet. Help me to lay aside my pride and to allow others to help me when I stumble, and make me always ready to “reclaim the erring” and “heal the wounds” of those crushed by the crosses of this life.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

Is there one who would not weep,

whelmed in miseries so deep,

Christ’s dear Mother to behold?

The Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the Face of Jesus

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

Veronica’s act of compassion “reawakens the image of Christ” in the disfigured face of a condemned man. This is an exemplary parallel to the encounter of St. Francis with the leper. Initially repulsed by leprosy, Francis admitted that it “seemed too bitter” for him even to see those afflicted. However, the Lord “led him among them,” and Francis dismounted his horse to embrace and kiss a man who embodied everything he feared.

In that moment, Francis realized he was kissing Christ Jesus Himself. This encounter was the “pivotal signpost of God’s bountiful grace” that changed his perspective on faith forever. Just as Veronica rejected the standards of a world that saw only the rich as worthy of attention, Francis learned to see the “very face of God” in the faces of the poor and the downtrodden. This “kiss” extinguished his judgments and allowed him to understand that “all humanity is beautiful” and in the hands of Divine care.

Prayer

O my Jesus, who left the imprint of Your sacred face on Veronica’s veil, imprint Your image on my heart as well. Through the intercession of St. Francis, give me the grace to confront my own “resistance to powerless people.” Turn my bitterness into “sweetness of soul and body,” that I may no longer look away from the suffering of others. Help me to recognize that my role is not to “fix” or “judge,” but to offer true acceptance and to console Your presence in the sick, the weary, and the outcast.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

Can the human heart refrain,

From partaking in her pain,

In that Mother’s pain untold?

The Seventh Station: Jesus falls the Second Time

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

Overwhelmed by the weight of the cross and the cruelty of those who urge Him onward, Jesus falls a second time. In the life of St. Francis, this second fall is mirrored in the “great crisis” he faced within his own Order toward the end of his life. As the brotherhood grew, many friars began to find the radical poverty of the Rule too difficult, leading to internal divisions and the mitigation of the very ideals Francis held most dear.

This was Francis’ “dark night of the soul”, a time of spiritual confusion, physical illness, and deep depression. He felt the weight of disappointment as the “house” he had built seemed to be falling into a different kind of ruin. Yet, like Jesus rising from the dirt of the Via Dolorosa, Francis learned that “some woods are stronger than steel because they bend.” He realized that even in institutional failure or personal disappointment, he had to “let the Father work through him” rather than clutching at his own successes. The cross is often found in the “bitterness” of seeing our dreams change, and that true holiness is found in persisting with love when the path becomes steep and the heart is weary.

Prayer

O Jesus, who fell under the weight of our faults but rose again to continue the journey, grant me the strength of the Spirit. Through the intercession of St. Francis, help me when I am “face down on the ground” due to family problems, failures, or the disappointment of seeing things change. Teach me the wisdom of “bending” to Your will, that I may not be broken by my own self-will or my desire for success. When I am tempted to give up, give me the grace to get up and be faithful to the end.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,

She beheld her tender Child,

All with bloody scourges rent.

The Eighth Station: Jesus meets the Women of Jerusalem

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

Jesus, though burdened by the cross, is less concerned with His own innocence than with the plight of the weeping women, urging them to reach their full potential as human beings created in God’s image. In the life of St. Francis, this station mirrors his deep spiritual fraternity with St. Clare and the early sisters at San Damiano. Francis recognized that the mission of the Gospel required the “freshness of life” and the steadfast prayer of these women to withstand the “cultures of death.”

Central to this station is the Franciscan “prophecy of peace.” Just as Jesus called the women to a deeper conversion, Francis challenged his world to reconciliation. A powerful example of this occurred when Francis, already weakened and ill, added a verse to his Canticle of the Creatures regarding those who “pardon for Your love.” This verse successfully ended a bitter feud between the Bishop and the Mayor of Assisi, proving that the way of the cross is the only path to true harmony. Let us remember that we are called to be “unarmed and disarming witnesses” of Christ’s peace.

Prayer

O my Jesus, who sought to console the women of Jerusalem, teach me the “joy of being able to forgive.” Through the intercession of St. Francis and St. Clare, give me the courage to build bridges where the world raises boundaries. Grant me a heart that is a “house of peace,” always ready to “reclaim the erring” and “heal the wounds” of division in my family, my community, and my own soul.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

For His people’s sins, in nakedness,

She beheld her Jesus in distress,

Till His spirit forth He sent.

The Ninth Station: Jesus falls the Third Time

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

Jesus falls a third time, reaching the point of total physical and emotional exhaustion before the final ascent to Calvary. In the life of St. Francis, this final fall is mirrored in the dramatic breakdown of his health toward the end of his life. In the fall of 1224, “worn out by many travels, fasts, and exposure,” Francis traveled to the mountain of La Verna while suffering from near-total blindness and agonizing illness. He reached a point where he could no longer bear the light of the sun or fire, living in constant darkness, headaches, and stomach pains.

Even in this state of total “descent and unknowing,” Francis did not abandon his mission. He retreated into a small hut, separated from his brothers by a chasm, to “center his prayer on how best to live the passion and death of Jesus”. Franciscan spirituality teaches us that “no one can attain beatitude unless he rises above himself” through the intervention of divine assistance in the “vale of tears”. In this station, let us reflect a Francis who is “brought low” by the weight of his mortality, yet remains “faithful to the end” by relying entirely on the Spirit of God within him.

Prayer

O my Jesus, by this third and most painful fall, grant me the grace of perseverance. Through the intercession of St. Francis, help me when I feel “exhausted at the foot of Calvary” or when my physical strength fails. When I am “face down on the ground” due to illness or deep personal loss, remind me that God’s hands are already there to lift me up!.” Teach me to “sigh for Your assistance in this vale of tears” with a fervent heart, trusting that You will lift me up and carry me to the finish.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

Let me share with thee His pain,

Who for all our sins was slain,

Who for me in torments died.

The Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of His Garments

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

Consider how the executioners violently stripped Jesus. His inner garments adhered to His tarnished body, and in being torn away, they took skin and blood with them. Jesus was deprived of everything to die possessing nothing. In the life of St. Francis, this station finds its most profound parallel in his final moments at the Portiuncula on October 3, 1226. Aware that “Sister Bodily Death” was near, Francis requested a final, supreme gesture of faith: he asked his brothers to strip him of his habit and lay him “naked on the bare earth.”

This was the ultimate consummation of his marriage to Lady Poverty. Francis desired to die in total poverty, with nothing of his own, in perfect conformation to Christ who hung naked and abandoned on the cross. Franciscan theology teaches us that this stripping is not a moment of shame, but a “supreme gesture of faith in the fatherhood of God.” By letting go of the last “trappings of status and power,” Francis showed that when we are stripped of the world, we are finally free to be clothed entirely in the grace of God.

Prayer

O my Jesus, by the merits of the pain You suffered in being stripped, help me to strip myself of all “evil habits and tendencies.” Through the intercession of St. Francis, give me the grace of detachment. Help me to realize that the things I am often obsessed with: money, clothes, and reputation, are the least important at the hour of my death. Lay me “naked on the bare earth” of Your mercy, that I may live fully and freely as a child of the Father, trusting that You are my only true treasure and my portion forever.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

For His people’s sins, in nakedness,

She beheld her Jesus in distress,

Till His spirit forth He sent.

The Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the Cross

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

The crucifixion is the climax of the Passion, the moment where Christ is “identified by His passion with the poor.” For St. Francis, this station finds its profound parallel in the reception of the Stigmata on Mount La Verna in 1224. Two years before his death, while in a state of profound prayer and “great crisis,” Francis asked the Lord for two graces: to feel in his body the pain Jesus underwent on the cross, and to feel in his heart the excessive love that led Jesus to accept such suffering.

In response to this prayer, Francis had a vision of a fiery, six-winged Seraph, the angel of divine love, bearing the image of a crucified man. When the vision disappeared, Francis discovered in his own hands, feet, and side the physical wounds of the Lord. Through the Stigmata, Francis became a “living image of the crucified Christ,” showing that the “fire of love” can transform the lover into the Beloved. Francis did not just meditate on the nails; he bore them, proving that God “plunged himself into us” through the humanity of Jesus.

Prayer

O my Jesus, whose hands and feet were pierced for my salvation, let the “nails of Your love” fix my heart to Your cross. Through the intercession of St. Francis, grant me the grace of “conformation,” that I may not only feel Your pain but also the “excessive love” You have for all humanity. Help me to bear the “brand marks of Jesus” in my own body by serving those who are “nailed” to crosses of illness, poverty, and despair. May I be a witness to a love that is stronger than death.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

Let me share with thee His pain,

Who for all our sins was slain,

Who for me in torments died.

The Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the Cross

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

As He dies on the cross, Jesus shares the desolation of countless people who see their dreams collapsing, yet He dies as He lived, with total trust in His Father’s love. For St. Francis, this station represents the Transitus, the “passing over” from this life to the next on the evening of October 3, 1226. Having been carried to his beloved Portiuncula to “yield up the spirit of life where he had received the spirit of grace,” Francis gathered his brothers for one final lesson in the Gospel.

In his final moments, Francis asked for the Gospel of John to be read, specifically the passage of the Last Supper where Jesus washes the feet of His disciples, connecting his own death to the “paschal celebration” of Christ. He then “broke out with the Psalm,” dying while singing Psalm 142: “I have cried to the Lord with my voice.” By welcoming “Sister Bodily Death” with “unusual joy,” Francis showed that death is not a terrible end but a “portal into eternal Love” and a transition to the “fullness of Life.” Let us see in the Poverello the perfect Alter Christus, who proved that a life given in love becomes the “seed that dies to bear fruit” in eternity.

Prayer

O my Jesus, who for love of me didst die on the cross, grant me the grace to die to my own self-will. Through the intercession of St. Francis, help me to welcome “Sister Death” as a friend when my time comes, knowing that she can do me no harm if I am found in Your most holy will. Give me a heart “humble and secluded enough” to join in the chorus of all creation, and may I, like Francis, depart this world “singing” Your praises and trusting in the “sweetness of Your name.”

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

Let me, to my latest breath,

In my body bear the death,

Of that dying Son of thine.

The Thirteenth Station: Jesus is taken down from the Cross

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

The lifeless, battered body of Jesus is lowered from the cross and placed into the arms of His Mother, Mary. This human shell, which had contained the most honourable life ever lived, is now a silent testament to the “charity of the Passion.” In the life of St. Francis, this station draws a parallel to the morning of October 4, 1226, when his body was carried in a solemn procession from the Portiuncula up to the city of Assisi.

As the procession reached the church of San Damiano, it stopped so that St. Clare and her sisters could weep over him and kiss his pierced hands and feet. In that moment, they saw for themselves the “living icon of the crucified,” the physical proof of his total conformation to Christ. Let us reflect on this “self sacrificing seed,” recognizing that Francis’s body was not merely a corpse, but a “treasure” of grace that continues to inspire the world toward peace and fraternity.

Prayer

O my Jesus, whose body was placed in the arms of Your sorrowful Mother, help me to realize that “we can take from this life nothing that we have selfishly gained... only what we have given.” Through the intercession of St. Francis and St. Clare, give me the grace to become a “seed of eternal life” through acts of mercy and love. May my life, like that of the Poverello, be a “living memory” of Your sacrifice, proving that a life given in love is never lost, but becomes the “passage to the fullness of Life.”

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

By the cross with thee to stay,

There with thee to weep and pray,

Is all I ask of thee to give.

The Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

Minister: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.

People: Because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

Meditation

Jesus is laid in a borrowed tomb, the final act of His total poverty on earth. In the life of St. Francis, this burial represents the “hiddenness and poverty of the Lord” which he sought to emulate throughout his existence. Francis was first buried at the Church of San Giorgio and later entombed beneath the main altar of the Basilica of St. Francis in a location that remained hidden for centuries to protect his remains.

The theology of the tomb in the Franciscan tradition is one of “hope and renewal”. Just as the tomb could not hold Christ, the spirit of Francis lives on through the eight centuries of his Order. We are reminded that from a life given in love, unexpected fruitfulness arises. This station invites us to rediscover the legacy Francis handed down as a “shared responsibility” to be builders of peace and guardians of creation.

Prayer

O my Jesus, who rested in the tomb to sanctify the grave, grant me the gift of “unshakeable hope”. Through the intercession of St. Francis, help me to see that even in the “hidden” moments of my life, Your grace is at work. May I trust that the seeds of love and mercy I plant today will one day bloom into eternal life. Help me to be a witness of a love that never dies.

Minister: Lord Jesus, crucified,

People: Have mercy on us!

Virgin, in thy love befriend me,

At the Judgment Day defend me,

Help me by thy constant prayer.

Conclusion

The 800th anniversary of the Transitus of St. Francis is not merely a look back at a historical death, but a “time of renewal and personal and communal responsibility”. This Jubilee Year, running from January 10, 2026, to January 10, 2027, invites every pilgrim to translate the “hope of the Cross” into concrete action. By walking these stations, we have meditated on the three primary legacies of the Poverello: Mercy found in the encounter with the poor, Faithful Love for the Church and the Eucharist, and a Fraternal Life that serves as a Gospel-based alternative to power.

St. Francis remains the Alter Christus, the “another Christ,” who shows us that the “high standard of ordinary Christian living” is attainable for everyone who is willing to lower themselves for the sake of Love. As we leave this Way of the Cross, we carry with us the “spirit of the seed that dies to bear fruit,” called to be “builders of peace, guardians of creation, and witnesses of a love that never dies”.

Final Prayer

(The following prayer was offered by the Holy Father for the Octocentenary of the Transitus)

“St. Francis, our brother, you who eight hundred years ago went to meet Sister Death as a man at peace, intercede for us before the Lord. You recognized true peace in the Crucifix of San Damiano; teach us to seek in Him the source of all reconciliation that breaks down every wall. You who, unarmed, crossed the lines of war and misunderstanding, give us the courage to build bridges where the world raises up boundaries. In this time afflicted by conflict and division, intercede for us so that we may become peacemakers: unarmed and disarming witnesses of the peace that comes from Christ. Amen”.

The Blessing of St. Francis

(Traditionally given to Brother Leo)

Minister: The Lord bless you and keep you.

People: Amen.

Minister: May He show His face to you and have mercy on you.

People: Amen.

Minister: May He turn His countenance to you and give you peace.

People: Amen.

Minister: The Lord bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

People: Amen.

Minister: Let us go in the peace of Christ.

People: Thanks be to God.