Man's Call To Salvation

The Way of the Cross is a traditional practice of meditating devoutly on the suffering, death and Resurrection of Jesus, particularly the suffering He endured on His way to His Crucifixion. The wide-spread devotion is usually practiced on Friday, during spiritual retreats, and most especially, during Lent.

Historical Background. In the early centuries of Christianity, the faithful marked with a cross and a picture each place along the Via Dolorosa (Sorrowful Way) where Jesus experienced the most significant occurrences as He staggered along the way to Calvary. Those places called stations. The pilgrims who went to Jerusalem would stop at each station in prayerful meditation.

As Christianity grew and spread, many of the faithful found it difficult to go to Jerusalem. So, they were encouraged to make the Way of the Cross in their own communities by reflecting and praying at the stations of the Via Dolorosa represented by either a painting or a statue.

Over the centuries, the number and sequence of the stations varied from eleven to thirty-seven. In 1731, Pope Clement XII fixed the number of stations at fourteen, arranged in the order familiar to us, i.e.:

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus accepts the cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets His mother
5. Simon takes the cross from Jesus
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls the second time
8. Jesus meets the women
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of His clothes
11. Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus is taken down from the cross
14. Jesus is buried
    

After Vatican II, many theologians suggested that the resurrection be included. Some theologians also proposed that the different stations reflect more closely the Gospel accounts of Jesus Christ's passion and death. Thus, some new sequences based on the Gospel were suggested. Others kept the traditional sequence and merely added a fifteenth station for Resurrection. The sequence that follows is based on the pamphlet issued by Word and Life Publications in 1992.