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Lent is the season of the Cross. The Way of the Cross leads to the "why" of the cross.

It is difficult to walk the 14 Stations of the Cross and not feel the Passion and death of the Lord at Calvary. The prayers of the Way of the Cross draw one into the events commemorated. Announcement of each station is like a train ride. A friend says this journey "makes me think of a train station, where we leave the moving train and stop with time to wait before we move on."

The Way of the Cross is the journey that saved the world.

"Behold the wood of the cross on which the Savior of the world hung" is the Good Friday antiphon. Good Friday is the crucial day - not only of the Church year, but of world history.

The word "crucial" comes from the Latin word "crux," meaning cross. Crucial is defined as "having the nature of a final choice or supreme trial; supremely critical, decisive."

Such is the unique character of the day: No day compares to Good Friday.

Praying the Way of the Cross involves movement: waiting at each station, imagining yourself in the scene. There is wonder in what each station portrays. The physical movement individually stirs emotions. Praying the Way of the Cross is a pilgrimage.

The stations provide a panorama of Jesus' suffering. The four Gospels tell us little of the physical suffering of Christ; the stations give a glance into Jesus' suffering and His mother's. (One title for Mary is "Our Lady of Sorrows.")

Crucifixion, invented by the Persians and perfected by the Romans, is one of the most painful, humiliating ways a human being might die. It was after praying the Stations of the Cross that a third-grader approached his pastor and said, "You know, Father, if you think about it, what Jesus did for us was awesome."

(Father Rosson is pastor of St. Mary's/Our Lady of the Lake parish in Cooperstown.)

Father Rosson is writing a series of Lenten reflections.[[In-content Ad]]

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