Fatima Retreat House Holds the Last ‘Way of the Cross’ of Lent Season on ‘Good Friday’
Mangaluru: O Jesus, our adorable Saviour, we now contemplate Your sacred passion. Help us to understand that the sufferings of our life are the continuation of Your passion. We ask for strength of our souls to go through our passion, in the spirit with which You went through Yours. Amen. The Stations of the Cross {Way of the Cross} usually observed during Lent, especially on Lenten Fridays and most importantly on Good Friday, and the faithful in large numbers attended the final “Way of the Cross” this morning at the two Way of the Cross, one in English language at 8 am led by Fr Melwin Pinto SJ and his team comprising of Sulabha Barrocas and Patrick D’souza, and the other one in Konkani at 9.15 am, led by Fr Ivan Madta SJ and his team, in the Chapel. Every Year the Way of the Cross used to be held outdoor, but due to renovation work going on, the Way of the Cross was held inside the Chapel this year.
Easter is one of the most popular devotions for Roman Catholics. The devotion consists of meditating on 14 events which form the 14 stations of the cross. The purpose of this devotion is to focus on the Passion of Jesus Christ. The lent season which began 40 days ago culminated today ( 19 April ) on Good Friday, during which the Catholic faithful made time for the ‘Way of the cross’ accompanying Lord on the journey of his passion and death. Following Ash Wednesday, which marked the beginning of Lent, which was 40 plus days before Easter Sunday ( 21 April) , and while Good Friday is on 19 April, which was observed on and beginning of the Holy season of Lent, the Catholic Church invited her children to solemnly enter into the holy season of Lent and to unite the Faithful throughout this season to the suffering and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ in a spirit of prayer, meditation, reflection, penance, fasting and alms-giving.
This season was also a moment of unique grace that lead the faithful to the joy and privilege of celebrating Easter, a feast of hope of new life in the Risen Lord. For Catholics they can do this to the extent that they imitate Christ who became poor and enriched them by his poverty. The fasting and abstinence, during the season of Lent, were not simply a form of penance; however it was also a call for the faithful to take stock of their spiritual lives. As Lent began, many Catholics set out specific spiritual goals they would like to reach before Easter and decided how they will pursue them – for instance, going to daily Mass and approaching the Sacrament of Confession more often.
The object of the ‘Way of the Cross’ was to help the faithful to make in spirit, as it were, a pilgrimage to the chief scenes of Christ’s sufferings and death, and this has become one of the most popular of Catholic devotions. It is carried out by passing from Station to Station, with certain prayers at each and devout meditation on the various incidents in turn. It is very usual, when the devotion is performed publicly, to sing a stanza of the “Stabat Mater” while passing from one Station to the another.
Following the prayer, the 14 Stations of the Cross {Way of the Cross} was observed at Fatima Retreat House, namely : The First Station: Jesus Is Condemned To Death; The Second Station: Jesus Carries His Cross”‘The Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time; The Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother; The Fifth Station: Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross; The Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus; The Seventh Station: Jesus Falls A Second Time; The Eighth Station: Jesus Speaks to the Holy Women; The Ninth Station: Jesus Falls the Third Time; The Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments’ The Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross; The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross; The Thirteenth Station: Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross; and The Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Laid in the Sepulcher.
Ending this column with a quote-“You saw a beauty in the Cross and embraced it as a desired treasure. My worldly mind is dulled by injustice and suffering and I lose sight of the glory that is to come. Help me to trust the Father and to realize that there is something great behind the most insignificant suffering. There is Someone lifting my cross to fit my shoulders – there is Divine Wisdom in all the petty annoyances that irk my soul every day. Teach me the lessons contained in my Cross, the wisdom of its necessity, the beauty of its variety and the fortitude that accompanies even the smallest cross. Mary, My Mother, obtain for me the grace to be Jesus to my neighbor and to see my neighbor in Jesus. Amen.”
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Faithful Flock Fatima Retreat House for ‘Way of the Cross’ to Mark Lenten Season
