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Priest-Lord Jesus, help me to be a vessel for change in the world for those suffering around me in my everyday life. Help me to notice the spiritual suffering and longing for You around me and be willing to help. Thank you that our strength does not lie in our physical or mental prowess but that our strength comes from Our Creator protecting us with His rod and staff. Priest-Lord Jesus, I look to you to learn and receive the fortitude and strength I need to press forward in doing what I know you are calling me to do, especially when it is hard. I humbly admit that I cannot do it on my own and I pray that I always seek your guidance and be willing to ask for help from You and Your body here on earth when I am struggling.
If we pray the Stations of the Cross in a church, we can receive a plenary indulgence. People who are impeded from making the Stations can receive the indulgence by spending a half hour of pious reading and meditation on the Passion and death of Jesus. However, it is such a wonderful prayer that even if we can’t go to a church, it is still good to pray it at home, using a cross that has been blessed, or walking outside, which is what I do sometimes.
Jesus Is Condemned to Death
In addition, the classic artwork offered is just gorgeous on your device. This art includes timeless masterworks in painting and stained glass. Touch the picture and it opens to a larger format via 3-D touch which you can pinch/zoom to fill the screen. Elizabeth.clares.catholic.life Catholic homeschooling mama with practical advice, encouragement, and resources for other moms in the trenches of daily life. Now it is more common to be “spiritual pilgrims” meditating and praying in front of images depicting Our Lord’s Passion. Candlelight casts warm glow on my children’s prayerful faces as they concentrate on the flames.
Specific prayers are recited, then the individual moves to the next station until all 14 are complete. St. Francis’ meditations bring us into Christ’s sufferings, challenging us to consider our part in each station. This type of app is fine to use while you’re in church walking the Stations on your own or outside of church using the beautiful artwork to aid your meditation. Designated in the 19th century, but generally follow the route of pilgrims centuries earlier.
There are 14 stations
Priest-Lord Jesus, help me to be truly sorry for the times I hurt you and everyone around me through my sin. Help me to desire to be reconciled to You through a contrite heart and the sacrament of Confession. Priest-Lord Jesus, help me to come to You in prayer, the Eucharist and Your Word and leave with Your image on my face and heart to share with all that I meet. Explore how praying the Stations of the Cross can affect not just your own faith, but your daily life with these five reasons to pray the Stations of the Cross. However, you can pray the Stations of the Cross at any time of the day, and you’re not limited to Lent when it comes to this devotion to Christ.
We become more willing to be patient, love, and sacrifice. We become more like the people God created us to be when we remember Christ’s sacrifice. The Stations of the Cross, also known as the Way of the Cross and the Way of Sorrow , detail fourteen different moments on the day Jesus died.
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Priest-Lord Jesus, grant me the grace to trust that You are in control of not only my life, but all of creation. Help me to see Mary’s example of trusting Your divine plan, even when it looks hard and heartbreaking at times. I hope this season has been a time of returning all of your heart, mind and soul to the Lord. For our faith to grow, we need to be able to empathise with Jesus suffering on the cross and feel His pain as though it were happening to ourselves or someone we care deeply about. The Stations of the Cross help us do this by giving us fourteen focal points to meditate on.
If you cannot attend mass and want to participate, these prayers can be prayed at home. As we walk and meditate through the Stations of the Cross there is a special blessing bestowed upon us. The journey Christ took, from Pilate’s court to His burial in the tomb, can bring a deeper meaning to each of our lives. As we contemplate each step, our faith in God is refreshed and renewed. Through the work Christ does in our own hearts, we can come to understand His power and His desire for His Holy Church in a new light. According to an ancient tradition, Mary used to honor her son’s suffering and death by retracing his path to Calvary, the site of the crucifixion.
In the Stations of the Cross, we are gifted with the ability to see Jesus in those who suffer and therefore to treat the suffering with compassion. Then the leader will read some words to help each person reflect on the current station. Dating back to the Middle Ages, Saints Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi, and Bonaventure paved the way for the practice. Although it wasn’t until the 17th century that the present form, with the same fourteen stations placed in the same order was recorded in Spain initially in the Franciscan communities. Including morning & night prayers, marriage and basic prayers like Hail Mary, Our Father, Apostles' Creed and many more.
One particularly beautiful tradition in the Catholic Church is praying the Stations of the Cross. While we can pray this prayer year-round, it’s particularly emphasized during Lent. In times when we can’t go to a church to pray in front of the stations on the walls, technology affords us opportunities to pray at home. One of my favorite prayers of this season is the Stations of the Cross. The reflections below were written by Michael Maldonado and myself during college. They have received great feedback and I would love to share them with a wider audience.
In the 1700s St. Alphonsus Liguori penned the most widely used form of the Stations of the Cross that included prayers, meditations, and the addition of parts of the Stabat Mater Dolorosa chant. This centuries-old devotion invites us to literally walk with Jesus during his Passion and Death, stopping at key moments to meditate and pray. At each of the 14 stations we reflect on the event that went on in that time and place. Our top picks for Stations of the Cross apps will help to enrich your prayer experience with beautiful imagery, meditations and even audio in some cases.
While the 14 Stations are based in both scripture and tradition, not all of them can be found in the Bible narrative of Jesus’ last hours. With that in mind Pope John Paul II began a new form of this devotion in 1991 called the Scriptural Way of the Cross. This was often the form he would often use when praying this devotion on Good Friday in the Colosseum. In 1991, St. Pope John Paul IIintroduced the Scriptural Stations of the Cross, which breaks from the traditional version in that all 14 stations refer to Gospel passages. Dotting the path were dioramas carved out of stone, each depicting a scene from Jesus’ suffering and death. The cradle Catholic in me recognized these images as the Stations of the Cross.
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