By Tom Thomas –
“Therefore, doing the Stations of the Cross was still more laborious than consoling, and required a sacrifice. It was much the same with all my devotions. They did not come easily or spontaneously, and they very seldom brought with them any strong sensible satisfaction. Nevertheless, the work of performing them ended in a profound and fortifying peace: a peace that was scarcely perceptible, but which deepened and which, as my passions subsided, became more and more real, more and more sure, and finally stayed with me permanently.”
― Thomas Merton
These words of Thomas Merton on the Stations of the Cross resound within me. As a child, I was not sure why, during the Lenten season, one should go for Stations of the Cross, and I used to reluctantly accompany my parents. It is normally at that time of the year when the mercury level is at its peak, and the many faithful Catholics who come for this, cram the church, making the overall sorrowful atmosphere even more oppressive. I frankly used to just wait for the last Station to get over before exiting the church in a hurry.
It is only in my middle adulthood, the Stations of the Cross, slowly became something I would like to attend every Friday in Lent. There was something in the way the different Stations were animated by different Church groups that gave life to the devotion. Now, it has become something I don’t want to miss during the Lenten season, and I often, look at these various Stations placed on the Church walls, which seem to come alive only in Lenten season. Other times, they seem to be just there, without one’s attention being drawn to them.
While attending the first Stations of the Cross on the first Friday in Lent, I was tormented by various worldly worries, connected to my business and other matters. As I started participating in the Way of the Cross, and focussing on each station as well as the meditations, my worries started to seem less and less important, and I started to think more about Him and the tremendous sufferings He had to undergo on our behalf. Somewhere during the Stations, I offered my sufferings also to Him, and by the end of the Stations, I was able to walk out much lighter.
There are many advantages to being part of the Stations of the Cross. Praying for the Holy Father’s intentions is one; the other is also gaining plenary indulgence for us or departed souls.
But where did this practice come from? How did it become part of our Lenten journey? Here is the history. Along the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrow), Jesus’ journey of about a mile from Pilate’s court to Calvary, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is believed to have often retraced the sorrowful way of her Son made on Good Friday.
The practice later originated in mediaeval Europe, with pilgrims unable to visit the Holy Land. In 1342, the Franciscans were appointed as guardians of the shrines of the Holy Land. The faithful received indulgences for praying at the following Stations part of Via Dolorosa: At Pilate’s house, where Christ met His mother, where He spoke to the women of Jerusalem, where He met Simon of Cyrene, where the soldiers stripped Him of His garments, where He was nailed to the cross, and buried in His tomb. At the end of the 17th century, the erection of stations in churches became more popular. In 1686, Pope Innocent XI, realising that few people could travel to the Holy Land due to the Muslim occupation, granted the right to erect stations in all of their churches and that the same indulgences would be given to the Franciscans and those affiliated with them for practicing the devotion as if on an actual pilgrimage. Pope Benedict XIII extended these indulgences to all of the faithful in 1726.
Five years later, Pope Clement XII permitted stations to be created in all churches and fixed the number at 14. In 1742, Pope Benedict XIV exhorted all priests to enrich their churches with the Way of the Cross, which must include 14 crosses.
St. Leonard of Port Maurice, a Franciscan Friar from Port Maurice, after his ordination, traversed almost the whole of Italy, applying himself with great fruit to preaching to the people the way of the cross. From his writings, we are further inspired to learn, “The Way of the Cross is the antidote against vices, the purifying of passions, and an efficacious incentive to virtue and holiness of life. In very truth, if we vividly represent the bitter torments of the Son of God as in so many painted pictures before our mind’s eyes, we can scarcely refrain from detesting the filth of our own lives, after so great an illumination: further, we are urged to answer to another so great a love by loving in return, or at least to bear willingly those crosses that abound in every state of life.”
Meditation on the passion of Christ will arouse true contrition of heart!
It is interesting to note the history of this devotion, something that can be meaningfully reflected upon, not only during the season of Lent. The quote below summarises the importance of this spiritual practice:
“The Way of the Cross alone defeats sin, evil and death, for it leads to the radiant light of Christ’s resurrection and opens the horizons of a new and fuller life. It is the way of hope, the way of the future. Those who take up this way with generosity and faith give hope and a future to humanity.” — Holy Father Pope Francis, Via Crucis, Krakow, Poland, July 30, 2016
Here are the Fourteen Stations of the Cross:
- Station 1 – Christ is Condemned.
- Station 2 – Jesus Carries His Cross.
- Station 3 – Jesus Falls the First Time.
- Station 4 – Jesus Meets His Mother.
- Station 5 – Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross.
- Station 6 – Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus.
- Station 7 – Jesus Falls the Second Time.
- Station 8 – Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem.
- Station 9 – Jesus Falls a Third Time.
- Station 10 – Jesus Clothes are Taken Away.
- Station 11 – Jesus is Nailed to the Cross.
- Station 12 – Jesus Dies on the Cross.
- Station 13 – Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross.
- Station 14 – Jesus is Laid in the Tomb.