Dear Friends,
Our Lenten Sermon Series on patterns of prayer continues on Sunday with former Fr, Richard Alton, preaching on his favorite devotion, the Rosary. Fr. Alton is Rector of St. Clement’s Church, Philadelphia, which is renowned for its extraordinary liturgy and music. It will be good to welcome Fr. Alton back to the pulpit of Saint Thomas and I hope many of you will want to come to greet him. Fr. Alton and his wife have been good and faithful friends of Saint Thomas for many years.
We continue to walk the Way of the Cross on Wednesday in Lent. If you have not yet experienced that devotion, please think about joining the clergy on Wednesday at 12pm. The devotion is in exactly the same form as used by pilgrims to the Holy Land. With the war between Hamas and Israel at the moment, and our St. John hospital in Gaza City forced to close its doors, the devotion is particularly poignant at the moment.
There are 14 traditional ‘stations’ during the Way of the Cross. A station is when the group of pilgrims pauses at a particular place on the journey to commemorate something that happened to Jesus as he walked to Golgotha. Most of them are found in the scriptures, and some are ancient pious devotion.
- Jesus is condemned to death
- Jesus takes up his Cross
- Jesus falls the first time
- Jesus meets his Mother
- Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross
- A woman (Veronica) wipes the face of Jesus
- Jesus falls for the second time
- Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
- Jesus falls for the third time
- Jesus is stripped of his garments
- Jesus is nailed to the Cross
- Jesus dies on the Cross
- Jesus is taken down from the Cross
- Jesus is laid in the tomb
When Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, visited the Holy Land, she sought out the holy places associated with Jesus. She also built churches at those sacred sites, including Bethlehem and the place of the Holy Sepulcher. Travelling to the Holy Land was all but impossible for many people, and yet we know that those sacred sites were of huge importance to the growing Church. For example, in the 5th Century, St. Petronius build an extraordinary church over a pagan shrine in Bologna, now Italy, in which he provided a replica of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. You can still visit that church today.
Pilgrims continued to walk the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem, but it was St. Francis of Assisi and subsequent Franciscan brothers who spread the practice throughout the Western Church. Just as he is attributed with the creation of the Christmas Crèche, Francis knew how important it was for people to experience the great stories of the gospels by using their imaginations as well as their bodies in prayer.
As pilgrims walk the Way of the Cross, they read scripture, sing hymns, and pray. A large cross is often carried by the pilgrims. Each station usually begins with this acclamation, the people bowing or genuflecting to the cross:
Because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.”
At Saint Thomas, we listen to passages from the bible, both Old and New Testament, and pray together. We offer intercessions for the Church and for the World, especially remembering those in need. We also pray the many prayer requests that we receive for Shrine prayers each week; this is particularly moving, and is of great comfort to those who are sick, suffering, or dying.
Many churches have 14 crosses on the walls with the numbers 1-14 in Roman numerals. Strictly speaking, those are the actual ‘stations.’ Over centuries of devotion, beautiful art work and sculpture have been used to help the faithful ponder on the various events being commemorated. I am hopeful that, one day, someone will want to commission some art or help us find some beautiful carved stations for the North Wall of the church where we used to have tapestries hung.
At Saint Thomas, we have a fifteenth station: after commemorating the burial of Christ, appropriately near the Columbarium, we prepare the altar for the offertory at mass. The fifteenth station is, therefore, the Resurrection and receiving Holy Communion is a fitting end to our devotions. Like the Emmaus Disciples, we have walked with Jesus, and he has expounded the scriptures to us on the road. As we receive Holy Communion, we discover that our hearts, too, are burning within us as we recognize him in the breaking of the bread.
I commend this ancient devotion to you, and encourage you to take part. We also audio-livestream the devotion, so you can join us online too.
Save us and help us we humbly beseech thee O Lord.
Your Priest and Pastor,
Carl
Click here to visit the poet Malcolm Guite’s website.
You can scroll down and read his fourteen sonnets called ‘Stations of the Cross’ accompanied by images.
You can also listen to him reading them for you.
