The Stations of the Crossare a Christian devotion which commemorates the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of the 14 stations represents an event which occurred during Jesus’ Passion and death at Calvary on Good Friday. The Stations originated many centuries ago by Christian pilgrims who visited the Holy Land and the sites of Jesus’ Passion. Those who were unable to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land eventually began the custom of walking the stations in other places, with images marking each station. A series of scriptural stations was celebrated and promoted by Pope John Paul II in 1991, believing the faithful would better be led to the profound reality of these events in Christ’s life. These scriptural stations omit the non-scriptural stations (the three falls, Jesus meeting his mother, and Veronica) and substitutes previously overlooked Scriptural themes:
1.Jesus Prays in the Garden of Olives 2.Jesus is Betrayed by Judas 3.Jesus is Condemned to Death by the Sanhedrin 4.Jesus is Denied by Peter 5.Jesus is Judged by Pilate 6.Jesus is Flogged & Crowned with Thorns 7.Jesus Carries His Cross 8.Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene 9.Jesus Encounters the Women of Jerusalem 10. Jesus is Crucified 11.Jesus & the Good Thief 12.Jesus On the Cross With His Mother & Disciple Below 13.Jesus Dies on the Cross 14.Jesus is Placed in the Tomb The stations are best prayed as a “little pilgrimage,” literally walking from station to station in the footsteps of Christ.