Fatima Retreat House Holds the Last ‘Way of the Cross’ of Lent Season 2021 on ‘Good Friday’
Mangaluru: O Jesus, our adorable Saviour, we now contemplate Your sacred passion. Help us to understand that the sufferings of our life are the continuation of Your passion. We ask for the strength of our souls to go through our passion, in the spirit with which You went through Yours. Amen. The Stations of the Cross {Way of the Cross} usually observed during Lent, especially on Lenten Fridays and most importantly on Good Friday, and the faithful in large numbers attended the final “Way of the Cross 2021” this morning, 2 April {Good Friday} in the open air. It is one of the most popular devotions for Roman Catholics. The devotion consists of meditating on 14 events which form the 14 stations of the cross. The purpose of this devotion is to focus on the Passion of Jesus Christ.
The lent season which began 40 days ago culminated today on Good Friday, during which the Catholic faithful made time for the ‘Way of the cross’ accompanying Lord on the journey of his passion and death. Following Ash Wednesday, which was observed on and beginning of the Holy Season of Lent, the Catholic Church invited her children to solemnly enter into the holy season of Lent and to unite the Faithful throughout this season to the suffering and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ in a spirit of prayer, meditation, reflection, penance, fasting and almsgiving.
This Lent season is also a moment of unique grace that will lead the faithful to the joy and privilege of celebrating Easter, a feast of hope of new life in the Risen Lord. For Catholics, they can do this to the extent that they imitate Christ who became poor and enriched them by his poverty. The fasting and abstinence, during the season of Lent, were not simply a form of penance; however, it was also a call for the faithful to take stock of their spiritual lives. As Lent began, many Catholics set out specific spiritual goals they would like to reach before Easter and decided how they will pursue them – for instance, going to daily Mass and approaching the Sacrament of Confession more often.
As per Lenten Fasting and Abstinence, all Catholics 14 years and older were to abstain from meat on Good Friday and the Fridays of Lent. Catholics who are 18 to 59 years old are too fast on Good Friday. Fasting refers to the quantity of food eaten. Traditionally, fasting calls for refraining from eating between meals and consuming only one full meal per day. The following suggestions were proposed to observe Lent- Attending Mass; Making at least a 15 minutes visit to the Blessed Sacrament; Reading the Bible for 15 minutes; Meditation on the Passion of the Lord for 15 minutes; Missing Breakfast or any one meal; Making strictly vegetarian meals; Giving 10% of one’s daily earnings in Charity; and most of all, taking part in the “Way of the Cross”.
The object of the ‘Way of the Cross’ was to help the faithful to make in spirit, as it were, a pilgrimage to the chief scenes of Christ’s sufferings and death, and this has become one of the most popular Catholic devotions. It is carried out by passing from Station to Station, with certain prayers at each and devout meditation on the various incidents in turn. It is very usual when the devotion is performed publicly, to sing a stanza of the “Stabat Mater” while passing from one Station to the next. The “Way of the Cross” proceedings began with a prayer made by Fr Maxim Misquith SJ, the Director of Fatima Retreat House.
Opening Prayer: Mary, my Mother, you were the first to live the Way of the Cross. You felt every pain and every humiliation. You were unafraid of the ridicule heaped upon you by the crowds. Your eyes were ever on Jesus and His Pain. Is that the secret of your miraculous strength? How did your loving heart bear such a burden and such a weight? As you watched Him stumble and fall, were you tortured by the memory of all the yesterdays- His birth, His hidden life and His ministry?
You were so desirous of everyone loving Him. What a heartache it was to see so many hate Him – hate with a diabolical fury. Take my hand as I make this Way of the Cross. Inspire me with those thoughts that will make me realize how much He loves me. Give me light to apply each station to my daily life and to remember my neighbour’s needs in this Way of the Pain.
Obtain for me the grace to understand the mystery, the wisdom and the Divine love as I go from scene to scene. Grant that my heart, like yours, maybe pierced through by the sight of His sorrow and the misery and that I may determine never to offend Him again. What a price He paid to cover my sins, to open the gates of heaven for me and to fill my soul with His own Spirit. Sweet Mother, let us travel this way together and grant that the love in my poor heart may give you some slight consolation. Amen. Following the prayer, the 14 Stations of the Cross {Way of the Cross} was observed, namely:
The First Station: Jesus Is Condemned To Death
The Second Station: Jesus Carries His Cross
The Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time
The Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother
The Fifth Station: Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
The Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
The Seventh Station: Jesus Falls A Second Time
The Eighth Station: Jesus Speaks to the Holy Women
The Ninth Station: Jesus Falls the Third Time
The Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments
The Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross
The Thirteenth Station: Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross
The Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Laid in the Sepulcher
After observing the 14 “way of the Cross”, the ceremony ended with a Closing Prayer:
My Jesus, I have travelled Your Way of the cross. It seems so real and I feel so ashamed. I complain of my sufferings and find obedience to the Father’s Will difficult. My Mind bogged down by poverty, sickness, starvation, greed and hatred in the world. There are many innocent people who suffer so unjustly. There are those born with physical and mental defects. Do we understand that You continue to carry Your cross in the minds and bodies of each human being? Help me to see the Father’s Will in every incident of my daily life. This is what You did – you saw the Father’s Will in Your persecutors, Your enemies and your pain.
You saw a beauty in the Cross and embraced it as a desired treasure. My worldly mind is dulled by injustice and suffering and I lose sight of the glory that is to come. Help me to trust the Father and to realize that there is something great behind the most insignificant suffering. There is Someone lifting my cross to fit my shoulders – there is Divine Wisdom in all the petty annoyances that irk my soul every day.
Teach me the lessons contained in my Cross, the wisdom of its necessity, the beauty of its variety and the fortitude that accompanies even the smallest cross. Mary, My Mother, obtained for me the grace to be Jesus to my neighbour and to see my neighbour in Jesus. Amen.
{For the long version of “Stations of the Cross” or “Way of the Cross” with meditations and prayers click on the earlier article link below }
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