THE MYSTERY OF THE STATIONS OFTHE CROSS

It's Lent once again.  One of the more common traditions by which people commiserate with the death and crucifixion of Jesus is to kneel down and reflect on the fourteen Stations of the Cross that adorn the walls of all Roman Catholic churches.  There are two ways of doing this.  The first is singly, whereby one prays before each station from the first to the fourteenth in a given church.  The second is done in groups, whereby people usually rent a van, pack it with food and drinks, travel to fourteen different churches, and then reflect on one station per church. Both fairly comply with the penitential exercise of going through the fourteen episodes comprising Jesus' passion on the cross. the difference lies in one visiting only one church and reflecting on fourteen stations, while another visits fourteen different churches and prays also on  fourteen stations.

The visita iglesia has since not been immune from criticism.  For one thing, many considers it to be more of a summer outing -- what with the food and drinks galore in a season dedicated for fasting and self-denial -- than a truly religious penitential exercise. For another, some tends to ask: Why can't the participants make the most of the occasion by praying not before just one station, but before all the fourteen stations, per church?  They say that while the process might entail 14 times 14 or 196 stations being prayed over, all told,  it would not really take too long with the luxury of a van.  In addition, wouldn't that be far more symbolic of one's holy week repentance?

I agree with this observation.  As a matter of fact, having tried the lengthier process many times in my younger days -- taking public transport instead of a private car or van, at that -- I then felt completely fulfilled in my once-a-year penitential exercise.  (Of course, at my age I cannot do that any more).  At any rate, I am saying all these not as much to criticize those that seems to be "noynoying" in their visita iglesia religiosity as to reveal something that perhaps only very few people know.   Those visiting churches and praying over only one station, or episode, in Jesus' passion on the cross per church, may have not realized it, but would you believe that different churches nowadays display different sets of the Stations of the Cross?

For example, in one church, Jesus fell on the cross for three times while only once in another;  the wiping of the blood on Jesus' face by Veronica is common in some churches, absent in a few others; while the scene where Jesus promises God's kingdom to Dimas, the Good Thief,  may appear in one church but not in another.  And most surprising of them all is that some churches depict fifteen stations instead of the traditional fourteen.   

It's a good thing, the Internet does have a ready answer for any question.  The truth is, Pope John Paul II had removed from the traditional fourteen stations all episodes that lacked biblical reference or significance, and replaced them with those that have.  Hence, a new set of fourteen Stations of the Cross that is entirely different from the old or traditional has been in effect since Good Friday of 1991. I ask this year's visita iglesia penitents to prove this by themselves.  Chances are, having done so, some of them may have the courage to ask their respective Father Confessors: "Why are you defying the Pope's encyclical, Father?"

Happy Easter to one and all!