Walking With Jesus!

We are members of Holy Cross Parish, so the Stations of the Cross is our special devotion!
1700 years ago pilgrims would go to Jerusalem to visit the land of Jesus. The most important place to visit was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the Church build over Calvary and the tomb of Jesus. Pilgrims would begin at the garden of Gethsemane(where Jesus was arrested), and then they would walk the path of Jesus as he carried his cross. This path became known as the Via Dolorosa(The Sorrowful Way). They would walk this path in prayer, worshipping Jesus.

This devotion of walking with Jesus to the Cross eventually made it to Europe. Today, almost every Church has stations of the Cross within the Church so that Christians can make this spiritual Journey with Jesus. This devotion is called “The Stations of the Cross”.

Each station is begun with the prayer: “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.” We begin by worshipping Jesus as God and recognizing his saving sacrifice.

Then there is a meditation on each station. This is get us thinking about the implications of this action. If you are doing the stations alone, this is a time for mental prayer.

Then there is a verbal prayer asking God for some grace.

You can pray this devotion at a church as you physically walk that stations around the Church. Or you can pray this devotion in your own home without the stations. In both cases we are spiritually walking with Jesus.

If you want a written version of the stations, here is a set from the United States Bishops Conference.

www.usccb.org/nab/stations.htm

Not only are the stations of the Cross important because we are Holy Cross Parish. They are also important because it is the season of Lent. Lent is a special time for this devotion.

I would like to invite you to our communal praying of the Stations of the Cross: Every Sunday during Lent at 1:00 we will have Stations of the Cross. Please come and pray with us.

Peace