The Stations of the Cross are a Catholic devotion commemorating Jesus Christ’s last day on Earth as a man. The 14 devotions or stations focus on specific events of the Passion of Christ and are used as a pilgrimage. At each station we recall, meditate and recite prayers before moving to the next station. The stations are prayed during Lent on Wednesdays and Fridays, and especially Good Friday. The devotion is sometimes referred to as the Way of the Cross or the Via Crucis. The stations are representations of imitations of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, which is a traditional processional route symbolising the actual path Jesus was taken on His way to Mount Calvary.
In the traditional Stations of the Cross immediately below, the meditations and prayers are written by Pope St John Paul II. They are From the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome on Good Friday 2000.
The Scriptural Stations of the Cross (1975). The Congregation for Sacred Rites suggested a list of Stations of the Cross that is more in keeping with the Gospel accounts and begins with the Last Supper and concludes with Christ’s resurrection. The reflections and prayers in the version below are written by Br Bernard Mary Fonkalsrud OFM Conv. With the scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible.
As you meditate and pray the Stations of the Cross, walk with Jesus and reflect on our call to imitate Him with our lives. While we follow His suffering, also experience a renewal of baptism, rising with Him to encourage a renewed way of living with love, openness and hope.
Download the Stations of the Cross
Download the Scriptural Stations of the Cross
