Stations of the Cross

I have realized that I have not posted anything about my journey through the RCIA program with my wonderful daughter-in-law Angela. RCIA (the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) is a process that a person who wants to join the Catholic Church goes through. Each person seeking to join the Church has a sponsor. Angela will be baptized and become a member of the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil Service. I am so very excited about this and have so enjoyed going through this process with her. I have learned a lot of things that I didn't know and have been challenged to think about a lot of things. (In a previous post I showed a picture of Angela and I with Bishop Doherty at the Rite of Initiation at St. Mary's.)

Last night at our meeting, we went over to the church and went through and prayed the Stations of the Cross. It is a beautiful experience and I was blessed even more by being asked to do the readings for each station. The stations follow Jesus's journey to the cross. The farther you get through the stations the more emotional it becomes. It allows you to place yourself there. I remember when I attended a Cursillo weekend we did Mary's Way of the Cross. This is done from Mary's perspective as the mother of Jesus. That was such a powerful experience for me because I put myself in the place of Mary and could not even imagine how she must have felt seeing her son being tortured.

The 14 stations are:

First Station - Jesus is condemned to Death

Second Station - Jesus is made to bear His Cross

Third Station - Jesus falls the first time under His Cross

Fourth Station - Jesus meets His Mother

Fifth Station - Simon the Cyrene helps Jesus carry His Cross

Sixth Station - Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Seventh Station - Jesus falls the second time

Eighth Station - Jesus speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem

Ninth Station - Jesus falls the third time

Tenth Station - Jesus is stripped of His garments

Eleventh Station - Jesus is nailed to the Cross

Twelfth Station - Jesus dies on the Cross

Thirteenth Station - Jesus is taken down from the Cross

Fourteenth Station - Jesus is buried in the sepulchre