May Your Death Be My Life

By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

By Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Good Friday. Today, we place ourselves with Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, at the foot of the cross. We fix our eyes on the One who was pierced, asking him to help us to enter into the mystery of his life and death. Today, our duty is to dwell in his heart – to remain at his feet with an attitude of listening and contemplation.

Dispose your heart. Place yourself at the foot of the tree of life. Use your imagination to contemplate Jesus on the cross – to contemplate his Eucharistic love, his crucified love poured out for the sake of a broken world. See how he makes all things new. Close your eyes and behold Jesus on the cross. Uses your spiritual senses to experience the happenings on Calvary. Let Jesus engage all your senses.

Different Way to Pray the Way of the Cross

By Edmund Lo, S.J.

Jesus is Condemned by the Sanhedrin, Michael O'Brien, studiobrien.com

One of the most common devotions during the Lenten season is the Way (or Stations) of the Cross, or brief meditations upon fourteen different moments of the Passion of Christ. Although the practice is common, this doesn't mean that everyone understands why it is done, or why it is beneficial. It is easy enough to just go through the motions and hand in my Lenten homework. This is to say that while some are ambivalent about it, there are also those who really don’t care for it. Therefore, I would like to say a few words about this devotional practice, to clarify some misconceptions and make a few suggestions.

Some do not like the Stations of the Cross because it is too gloomy and sad. Sure, the Passion is an important part of the life of Jesus, but why focus on the suffering so much and emotionally beat ourselves up for it? We never watch others being persecuted and tortured for its own sake, anyway.