Stations of the Cross in Dulce Nombre, 2018

The Sufferings of Christ, 

the Sufferings of the Poor and the Sick, 

and the Sufferings of Creation

It has been a long tradition in the Catholic Church to celebrate the Friday before Holy Week as the Friday of Sorrows, remembering in a special way Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the Mother of Sorrows.

For many years, the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán had the tradition of a diocesan Stations of the Cross on this day. This no longer happens but in the parish of Dulce Nombre de María and in some other parishes we celebrate a parish-wide celebration of the Stations.

This year the diocese and the entire Honduran Catholic Church has taken as its theme: “La Iglesia cuida la casa común - The Church cares for our common home.” Thus our Stations had a very definite ecological theme in most of the stations, with many quotes from Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ as well as a January 2018 pastoral letter from CELAM, the Conference of Latin American Bishops, entitled Discípulos, Misioneros, Custodios de la Casa Común; Discernimiento a la luz de la Laudato Si’- Disciples, Missionaries, Caretakers of our Common Home: Discernment in the light of Laudato Si’.

In addition, the coordinators of the varied sectors of the parish, as well as the pastor and I picked up trash along the path of the Stations. We ended up with about two truck-loads.

There were some parts of the Stations that were particularly moving.

                

At the first station, I marveled at this woman, kneeling in the street.

As we left, I caught a photo of our pastor in a ditch, picking up trash.

The second station was at the home of a poor family with a gravely-ill twenty-four-year old woman. They had prepared an altar with a saw dust carpet.

I had visited this family with Padre German in December when he anointed her. The house is pretty run down – and it is not even their own; they are renting it. But they had prepared a beautiful spot for us to contemplate the Way of the Cross.

At the end of the formal prayers, Padre went inside and prayed the Our Father with the young woman – and, with the help of a remote microphone, we prayed with them.

We stopped at some other places of suffering, including the home of a young woman who died of cancer, leaving a young child, as well as the homes of others suffering, several from cancer.

Our Way of the Cross embraced those suffering – as well as the suffering of creation.

It also included beauty. All of the Stations had an altar, fashioned by those who lived there. A few prepared sawdust carpets, such as this one for the station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.

We concluded with Mass and sent people on their way with the text of the stations. We hope they use them in their communities on Good Friday.

The text of the Stations, in Spanish, is available on my Spanish blog, here.