News - March 2022 RSS Feed

The Stations of the Cross are a Catholic devotion that consist of prayers and meditations which commemorates the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of the fourteen stations represents an event which occurred during Jesus' Passion and death at Calvary on Good Friday. During the time of the crusades (1095-1270), it became popular for pilgrims in the Holy Land to walk in the footsteps of Jesus to Calvary. After the Muslims recaptured the Holy Land pilgrimages were too dangerous. As a result, the Stations of the Cross became a popular substitute pilgrimage throughout Europe. The Stations represented critical events from Scripture or tradition of Jesus' journey to Calvary. Originally done only outdoors, the Stations were allowed inside churches in the mid-18th century. Eventually fixed at fourteen, the Stations soon became a familiar feature in all Catholic churches. The devotion may be conducted personally by the faithful, making their way from one station to another and saying the prayers, or by having an officiating celebrant move from cross to cross while the faithful make the responses. The stations themselves must consist of, at the very least, fourteen wooden crosses, pictures alone do not suffice, and they must be blessed by someone with the authority to erect stations. (Community of Hope)

As we reflect upon the reading for the Third Sunday of Lent we come to realize that people haven't changed much since ancient times. Currently, the most popular topics of conversation are dramatic news stories of the war in Ukraine that claims the lives of innocent people and leads to destruction of human lives in every respect. We talk about our own boarder crisis, struggles with the pandemic, gas and food prices and raging inflation. It seems it was the same among the contemporaries of Jesus as they talked about their major events: the collapse of the tower at Siloam, and the violent tactics Pilate used to control the Jews. 

On every Second Sunday of Lent we reflect upon the story of the Transfiguration. It is the powerful moment when God expresses the fulfillment of His relationship with His people. The Gospel tells us that Jesus went up the mountain to pray and was transformed! On the mountain of transfiguration in the company of two great Hebrew figures - Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, Peter, James and John witnessed the glory of Jesus’ identity as the “Chosen Son.” The transfiguration in turn gives us a foretaste of the fulfillment we all await: the glory of resurrection and eternal life.

With the celebration of Ash Wednesday when we received ashes on our foreheads, this was the first moment and sign of entering into the process of encountering God on the spiritual journey of Lent. This simple yet powerful gesture of humility reminds us of our unworthiness and sinfulness in the face of the majesty and mercy of God. It calls us to conversion, “Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel,”  and brings awareness of the significant role of Lent. This Holy Season should help us awaken the gift of our relationship with God. The liturgy offers us various signs and symbols drawing abundantly from a long human tradition to which God has given a valuable meaning. It is worth seeing these symbols and signs as a way to approach God’s plan for us.