Stations of the Cross 2020

Introduction

The Stations of the Cross are a series of fourteen images or statues (along with accompanying prayers) that recreates the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. The Via Dolorosa is believed to be Jesus' processional route from his trial to his crucifixion. You can find an example of what the Stations typically look like here.

The Stations, which have been around in some form since at least the 400s, have provided faithful, home-bound pilgrims with an opportunity to visit Jerusalem and Jesus' Passion in their imaginations for centuries. The Stations can be visited anytime, but Good Friday provides us with a special opportunity to be with Jesus (and to not look away).

Good Friday, crucifixion, and death are not unique to Jesus. They are universal and can be found in many times and places. So, in the Stations as they've been laid out below, instead of reflecting on traditional images of Jesus, we'll be reflecting on "Good Friday" images from the news over the last year or on images that relate to some crisis, some tragedy, some death that has been with us and on our hearts in this past year.  

As you scroll through the stations below, I suggest you take your time. Linger on the images. If you click on them, they'll open in a popup that fills the screen. Really see them. Feel them. Let the images and the emotions they contain draw you closer to the one who suffers with us. Pray the prayers. If you're not a pray-er, read them with as much conviction and hope as you can muster and see what happens.

Good Friday is the most difficult Christian Holy Day. But observing it, being with Jesus, and feeling the pain of the world is important spiritual work. I pray that the images, reflections, and prayers below draw you closer to the world's aching places and that they embolden you to find the voice that will let you declare Good News to the world.

Special thanks to Jim O'Brien who wrote many of the prayers below.

The First Station:
Jesus Is Condemned to Die

Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 
They shouted back, “Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Why, what evil has he done?”
​But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
—Mark 15:12–15

Police detain a demonstrator in Santiago, Chile. Protests began due to a subway fare hike in the city and they become massive and sustained because of the country's rising inequality. (Esteban Felix/AP)

​Let us pray...
Redeemer Jesus, you have come to us with the mission to sacrifice yourself for the sins of the world.
You were wrongfully condemned to death by the state. You were condemned with the support of the people, the mob who called for your death. You understand the cruelty of being wrongly accused and convicted. We ask your blessing and compassion for those who are still convicted and sentenced to death.   State sanctioned murder, of the guilty or innocent, does not allow for the condemned
to reconcile with God and others. There is no restoration because death is so final.
We ask your blessings on those who are sentenced to death. 

The Second Station:
Jesus Carries His Cross

And carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull,
​which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
—John 19:17

A stork in a landfill is entangled with a plastic bag. When China stopped receiving the world's recycling this past year, we realized how underfunded and underdeveloped US recycling is. The US alone produces 35 million tons of plastic each year. Only about 8% of plastics are recycled worldwide. (John Cancalosi, National Geographic)

​Let us pray...
Jesus, you know what it is to be pinned down by the instrument of your demise.
We know that you help us to bear our burdens.
Help us also to tear down the crosses of the world--
be they made of plastic, or iron bars, or depression, or anything else that breaks hearts and ends lives.​
If we are to follow you, we must free the prisoners.

The Third Station:
Jesus Falls for the First Time 

Fallen debris from the burnt out roof structure sits near the high altar inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. (Christophe Morin/Bloomberg/Getty)

​Let us pray...
O Jesus, even you?
You walked on water! Now you sink beneath the weight of the cross.
Even miracles can't save us forever.
Nothing lasts. Nothing is indestructible.
Eventually, everything falls.
Will I walk past the rubble? Or pick up the pieces?

The Fourth Station:
Jesus Meets His Mother

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her,
​he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” 
—John 19:26–27

After an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 jet crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board, an Ethiopian relative of a victim throws dirt in her face as she realizes that there is nothing physical left of her loved one. (Mulugeta Ayene/AP)

​Let us pray...
What sadness there is in seeing your mother watching you struggling under your wounds and burden.
A mother’s love knows no bounds and yet it is sadness that fills this terrible scene.
​Confused at the swiftness this week's events, she is astounded and afraid.
Jesus, bless all mothers who are confronted with the horror of losing a child. Comfort them in their loss. 

The Fifth Station:
Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus to Carry the Cross

As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross.
—Matthew 27:32

Jefferson Township Fire Dept. EMT Rhonda Hughes aids a man who overdosed on heroin in Dayton, Ohio. (James Nachtwey for TIME)

​Let us pray...
Jesus, Lord, you weaken under the strain.  Simon carries the burden a few feet while you regain
your strength and gather your purpose. You must go on to the sacrifice, but you are grateful
for the brief respite that Simon offers. You remind us that when we are heavy burdened
it is okay to accept help. To ease the burden, if only for a few minutes,
can help restore our strength and our faith.
We are grateful for Simon’s intervention that allowed you to continue your mission.
And we ask your blessings on all who help those who are struggling.
The outstretched arm of help is always welcome. 

The Sixth Station:
Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

A woman wipes the face of a young boy in Hong Kong after police fired tear gas on an unauthorized pro-democracy demonstration. (Lynn Bo Bo/EPA-EFE)

​Let us pray...
Seeing your pain, your suffering, your sweat and blood pouring from your face,
Veronica steps forward and offers you her veil. You welcome it to clean the blood from your eyes
and the dirt from your face, and you leave with her an impression so vivid. 
Her devotion moved you and you showed your gratitude.
​A brief moment of kindness on your long trek to the top of the hill is most welcome.
May you pour your blessings on those who offer some brief solace at a time of suffering. 

The Seventh Station:
Jesus Falls for the Second Time

This image of a burning home in Lake Conjola in New South Wales, Australia, was taken in the middle of the day. (Matthew Abbott for The New York Times)

​Let us pray...
God, you promised never to not destroy the world again.
But in this age of global climate change we know that all of Creation is suffering because of us,
and we are filled with fear. We know your mission is to redeem the whole world.
As you groan, the Earth groans. As the Earth groans, you groan.
Free us from trembling fear and lead us to fearless action.  

The Eighth Station:
Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women
who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said,
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children."
—Luke 23:27–28

Red Cross volunteers putting together cloth masks during the 1918 flu pandemic. The sign behind them reads, “If I fail, he dies.” It depicts a worker on the left preparing bandages in a safe place and a worker on the right on a WWI battlefield with a wounded soldier lying in her lap. She is holding out her hand for a bandage.

​Let us pray...
The women understand the cruelty and the injustice of your sentence.
They are distraught that someone like you could be unjustly sentenced to death
and, as they watch your passage along the way, they are overcome with grief.
Bless them for their compassion.
Jesus, we ask your blessing on all of those who feel for others,
who understand, at some deep level, their suffering. 

The Ninth Station:
Jesus Falls for the Third Time

Holly, detoxing in the Montgomery County Jail in Dayton, Ohio. (James Nachtwey for TIME)

​Let us pray...
Lord Jesus, there are many stumbling blocks in life and as you stumble under your heavy load
remember those today who stumble because of drug use and alcoholism. 
Many seek you but find that they have taken a wrong direction.
They believe they can find solace in arms injected with opiates
​or by taking a pill that promises a heavenly response.  This idolatry deceives them. 
Jesus, keep them safe and show them that the better way is faith in you, reliance upon you. 
May they discover that your loving embrace can lift them up. 

The Tenth Station:
Jesus Is Stripped

A customer pushes her cart next to empty shelves at a Sainsbury's store in Harpenden, England, as the spread of COVID-19 continues. (Peter Cziborra / Reuters)

​Let us pray...
O God, when the things we need to feel safe are torn away from us,
we are so terribly afraid and exposed.

The Eleventh Station:
Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals,
one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said,
​“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
—Luke 23:33–34

Aliana Alexis stands on the concrete slab of what is left of her home after destruction from Hurricane Dorian in an area called “The Mud” at Marsh Harbour in Great Abaco Island, Bahamas. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

​Let us pray...
Jesus, they have pierced you in your most tender places and raised you up.
You look out over the world as you die.
What do you see?

The Twelfth Station:
Jesus Dies on the Cross

When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 
At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
... 
Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
—Mark 15:33–34, 37

Medical staff, wearing protective gear, move a patient infected with the coronavirus from an ambulance to a hospital in Seoul, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

​Let us pray...
And God is dead.
And the Earth trembles.
And our faith whispers,
"Even now, don't look away."
This death of yours, Jesus, is a part of us.

The Thirteenth Station:
His Body Is Taken Down from the Cross

Then Joseph [of Arimathea] bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth...
—Mark 15:46

Workers load the dead by forklift, two at at time, into refrigerated trucks outside Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. (Jae Donnelly/DailyMail.com)

​Let us pray...
Your friends have come to carry your lifeless body to a vacant tomb.
They are covered with your blood, but it doesn't matter to them because their love for you
surpasses any discomfort they feel.  They pry the nails from your arms and feet.  
Gingerly, they lower you.  They take the crown of thorns from your head.
Their love for you is throbbing in their silent throats.
Jesus, if it is in accordance with your will, 
we ask that you strengthen us for the tasks ahead no matter how unpleasant they may be.  

The Fourteenth Station:
His Body Is Laid in the Tomb

Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified,
and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 
​And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
John 19:39–42

Antonio Basco, whose wife, Margie Reckard, was murdered during a shooting at a Walmart store, kisses a white wooden cross bearing the name of his late wife at a memorial for the victims of the shooting in El Paso, Texas. With no family in state, Basco was afraid no one would come to the funeral and asked the public to attend. More than 3,000 mourners paid their respects. (Mark Ralston/AFP - Getty Images file)

​Let us pray...
As a final act of love, they buried you in a tomb and rolled the stone to cover the entrance. 
They could not perform the rights as it was late in the day and the Sabbath was beginning.
But with good intentions to return in a day or two to finish the sacrificial rights, they thought,
“May you rest in peace."