Stations of the Cross in daily life

Diocesan Stations of the Cross in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras, 2009

A traditional Catholic devotion popular during Lent is the Stations of the Cross remembering the path of Christ from the judgment of Pilate to the tomb.

A street of the Via Crucis in Jerusalem

Its roots are in the pilgrimage to Jerusalem where pilgrims walk the streets in the footsteps of Jesus stopping at 14 places to pray, accompanying Jesus on the Way of the Cross - in Latin, Via Crucis.

When this was not possible it became a custom to erect 14 stations in the churches, promoted mostly by Franciscans.

The traditional stations are:

1. Jesus is condemned to death.

2. Jesus takes up the Cross.

3. Jesus falls the first time.

4. Jesus meets His mother.

5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross

6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

7. Jesus falls the second time.

8. Jesus consoles the women of Jesusalem

9. Jesus falls the third time

10. Jesus is stripped of his garments

11. Jesus is nailed to the cross

12. Jesus dies on the cross

13. Jesus is taken down from the cross

14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

15. Jesus is raised from the dead.

During Lent many parishes have communal celebration of the Stations. The Pope traditionally has a Good Friday Stations of the Cross in the Roman Coliseum. 

In many parts of the world people erect crosses in the streets of their communities and walk the way of the cross where they live. In the 1960s, related to the struggles for peace and justice, various groups began to pray the stations, relating them to various sites of injustice or war preparations.

When I was a campus minister at Iowa State University we began a Stations of the Cross on the Iowa State University campus which is still going today, connecting the Stations with sites on the university campus.

We connected the first station, Jesus condemned to death, to the site on the campus related to the Manhattan Project and the production of atomic bombs. The fourth station, Jesus meets his mother, was near the building that houses the College of Agriculture, remembering Mother Earth. 

Fifth Station on the ISU campus

 The fifth station, Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross, was connected with immigrants, praying by a statue on campus of a Mexican carrying a woman across the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande. Remembering women affected by war, the eighth station, Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, was prayed outside the armory on campus.

A Lenca woman praying
during the 2010 Via Crucis Diocesano

For many years here in Honduras, in the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán, people from the five departments of the diocese have come together on the Friday before Holy Week to pray the stations in the streets. The themes have always been connected with the reality of the country. For the Way of Christ to the Cross is mirrored in the way of the cross the people live each day here in Honduras.  

This year the themes are:

1. Jesus is condemned to death

       Maladministration of Justice

2. Jesus takes up the cross

       Exploitation (in sweatshops and of children)

3. Jesus falls the first time

        Alcoholism

4. Jesus meets his mother

        Family disintegration, loss of values

5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross

         Education and health

6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

        Corruption at every level

7. Jesus calls the second time

        Violence, hired assassins, drug-trafficking, insecurity

8. Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem

        Migrants and unemployment

9. Jesus falls the third time

        Coup d’état, polarization, reconciliation

10. Jesus is stripped of his clothes

        Extreme poverty

11. Jesus is nailed to the cross

        Two-party system, traditionalism, client state 

           (the state is their inheritance)

12. Jesus dies on the cross

        Attacks on life (Climate change, Mining, human rights 

           [disappearances, assassinations, abortion, 

            drug-trafficking])

13. Jesus is taken down from the Cross

         Those who have fallen in the struggle

14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

          Image of Christ, image of the Church, 

              buried by the means of communication

15. Jesus is raised from the dead

          The resurrection of the people

And so this year thousands will come together to pray and witness to a faith that does justice. I will comment on this later this week with photos.

Our people live the Calvary of Jesus, crushed by poverty and without power to raise ourselves up, abandoned by the state.

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UPDATE: Photos and selected texts from the 2011 Stations can be found here.