A brief explanation of the Stations of the Cross
This entry was posted on 3/30/2007 6:00 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
The stations of the cross are a synthesis of various devotions that arose in the high middle ages--1000-1300.Along with the Crusaders, many of the faithful went to the Holy Land. There, they devoutly visited the places associated with our Lord's passion. The places where Christ stopped on His journey to Calvary became "stops," or stations to recall Christ's execution, His fatigue, His compassion, and His speaking with those who were present along the way. When returning home, they erected markers of their spots in the local church.
The stations of the cross are a living memory of the words and gestures of the final earthly day of Jesus the Christ. In the Stations, Christian devotion and faith meet: the idea of life being a journey or pilgrimage is recalled. We pass along from earthly exile to our true home in heaven. We experience the desire to be united to the suffering of the Lord Jesus. We learn the demands of following the Master who calls us to get behind him, carry our own crosses and follow in His footsteps.
The love of the Christian faith for this devotion is attested to the numerous ways and places in which stations are erected: in churches, shrines, cloisters, woodland paths and in cemetaries where they are particularly evocative. Many parishioners may remember walking the stations outdoors behind the church at St. Joseph Settlement. The present form of fourteen stations (which is not mandatory) dates just to the mid-1700's. Usually texts are drawn from sacred scripture. The prayers made at each stations express our faith, hope and love as we hear Jesus calling us to here renew our Easter faith.
Stations are not just for the season of Lent. Take some time, alone and without any texts, and look at the beautiful and stirring stations. Put yourself in the scene. Hear what the Lord speaks to you, here and today. Respond in prayer before moving on to the next scene. The Way of the Cross is made through the grace of the Holy Spirit whose divine fire burned in the sacred heart of Jesus and brought Him to the Place of the Skull and you yourself to His side now.
