Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross (Via Crucis) is an ancient meditation upon the passion and death of Jesus Christ. The images are presented to us to encourage an imaginative and prayerful response to the reality of the love which Christ’s sacrifice represents.
We identify with the crowd accompanying Christ and in it we see cruelty, suffering, sheer exhaustion and the love of Our Lady, St John and Mary Magdalene, the generosity of Simon of Cyrene, the care of Veronica, the despairing sympathy of the women of Jerusalem and the piety and hope of Joseph of Arimathea. As we try to enter the reality of the passion we are encouraged to appreciate the sound, the smells, the pain in this unique drama of love. Jesus perseveres in his sacrificial love in the face of rejection caused by sin, spiritual blindness, self-interest and the abuse of power. We see Christ’s response to all of this in His acceptance and the offering of Himself which leads us to hear, in awe His prayer: ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’
Fr Gunn offers some thoughts while praying the Stations of the Cross in the Church of St Comgall, Brunswick Road, Bangor, Co Down.
1st Station: Jesus is condemned to death
2nd Station: Jesus carries His cross
3rd Station: Jesus falls the first time
4th Station: Jesus meets his mother
5th Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross
6th Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7th Station: Jesus falls for the second time
8th Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9th Station: Jesus falls the third time
10th Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments
11th Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12th Station: The crucifixion and death of Jesus
13th Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross
14th Station: The burial of Christ in the tomb