The CROSS as a JOURNEY

Following this blog post you will find fourteen more. Each one is a Station of the Cross. Before I invite you to visit these fourteen posts, first let me say a bit more about what the "Stations of the Cross" is.

The Stations of the Cross has two related meanings. In one sense, the Stations of the Cross refers to the liturgical practice of using various events in the final hours of Jesus’ life as a structure for prayer and meditation (also called the Way of the Cross). These events encompass Jesus’ journey carrying his cross from the Hall of Pilate (the ancient Antonio Fortress) where he was condemned to death to the site of his execution on Golgotha (Calvary)which is located in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

As part of their acts of devotion, early Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem retraced the route of Jesus as he carried his cross to his death. Early pilgrimages varied considerably with different starting places and different routes. As the practice developed in the medieval period, the starting point for this journey through the streets of Jerusalem began in the ruins of the Fortress of Antonia that originally housed Pilate’s Judgment Hall, now incorporated into the Ecce Homo Convent. It concluded at the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher that marks the traditional site of Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus. By the sixteenth century, the route this pilgrimage took through Jerusalem came to be called the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrow. Along the Way, certain points on the journey (stations) were associated with specific events recounted (or implied) in the Gospel stories.

The Via Dolorosa and the Stations of the Cross are still a popular pilgrimage destination in Jerusalem. Each year during Lent and especially on Good Friday, thousands of Christians retrace the route of Jesus through the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, many carrying small or large wooden crosses.

In another sense, the Stations of the Cross refers to a series of depictions, usually either paintings or sculpture, that coincide with the Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem. Since many people could not make the arduous pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in the medieval period there developed the practice of using depictions of these Stations in local cathedrals to allow worshippers to make the same devotional journey.

The journey of our Faith as modern Christians is not only a journey through history that can be marked by events in the past. It is also a journey of our own personal commitment to God, of our own growth as a community of Faith and as individuals maturing from self-centered children into faithful servants. It is a journey that we need to remember just as deeply and profoundly as we remember the journey of God's people across 3,000 of human history, or the journey of Jesus from Pilate’s Hall to Golgotha.

I followed this route in the old city of Jerusalem last Friday just to beat the rush of pilgrims, although I will walk it again on Good Friday. I found it to be moving and prayerful. Perhaps you will as well as you visit the following posts on my blog where I included a photo of my walk as well as an artist's picture of the event being commemorated. I invite you to take a journey....