The Way of the Cross

The devotion known as the Way of the Cross is an adaption to local usage of a custom widely observed by pilgrims to Jerusalem for hundreds of years: the offering of prayer at a serious of places in that city traditionally associated with our Lord's passion and death.

As the sun sets and dark descends, The Way of the Cross in our parish will be a quiet contemplative "come as your are" experience of listening, praying, and simple Taize changes. The chants are only one line long and are easy to repeat. Participants can volunteer to come forward to hold the wooden cross during one of the "stations" and feel the weight of the burden, alone or shared with a family member or friend. Like the young people visiting Taize, if so moved, participants are welcome to sit on the floor, at the altar rail, or against the wall-the special spot of their own choosing to end the Way of the Cross.

On this Good Friday night, when we recall the great sacrifice that occurred tow millennia ago, we do not so much seek to offer perfect prayers as we desire to be willing to fully enter into the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with our hearts, minds, souls, and voices. By our Baptism, Jesus' journey to the Cross is the same journey we live today as we seek to do the will of God with the fabric of our entire life. Being Christians calls us to journey on our own Way of the Cross, where great sacrifice may be necessary to be daily ministers of justice, mercy, and peace.