The Way of the Cross

"We adore you Christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world."  During the season of Lent most parishes offer Stations of the Cross also known as The Way of the Cross.  We meditate on the Passion of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  We walk with him from the beginning when He is condemned to death all the way to when He is buried in the tomb.  But most people do not know the history of the Stations.  Last Wednesday we prayed the Stations with my teens but prior to that I gave them a very brief history lesson of the Stations...


The Stations are a pilgrimage in spirit to Jerusalem and meditating along the path that Christ walked.  It was said in Tradition that the Blessed Mother use to walk this path daily and recall the Passion of her Beloved Son.  Saints in the 3rd and 4th century remarked that hundreds of pilgrims a day could be found walking this path as well and stopping at points along the path as they meditated on the Passion and prayed for Christ's assistance.  It was not until St. Francis that it became a chapel devotion.  This chapel devotion spread throughout medieval Europe very quickly.

There are two sets of stations...Traditional and Scriptural
The Traditional:

1. Jesus is condemned to death.
2. Jesus is given his cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets His Mother
5. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls the second time
8. Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus' body is removed from the cross and placed in the arms of His mother. 
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

Pope John Paul II introduced a Scriptural Way of the Cross in 1991 and in 2007 Pope Benedict XVI approved them for public celebration.

1. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,
2. Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested,
3. Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin,
4. Jesus is denied by Peter,
5. Jesus is judged by Pilate,
6. Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns,
7. Jesus takes up His cross,
8. Jesus is helped by Simon to carry His cross,
9. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem,
10. Jesus is crucified,
11. Jesus promises His kingdom to the repentant thief,
12. Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other,
13. Jesus dies on the cross,
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.

Even though Stations are typically only prayed during Lent I have felt a deep yearning to continue to pray them after Lent.  It is a very humbling journey to walk with Christ.  To see the pain and the suffering that He went through for us.  At anytime during this journey He could have easily called ten thousand angels to come and take His place.  But He loves us so much that He knew that this was the only thing that could save us from our sinful nature.  It still amazes me!