How to do the stations.

The Context:

The first point to note is that this is prayer. It isn't an intellectual exercise. It is in the context of our relationship with God. We could read through the text of each of the stations, and look at the pictures, but that wouldn't necessarily be prayer. This is an invitation to enter into conversation with Christ.  It becomes prayer when we open our hearts and when we are led to express our response to God.

The second thing to remember is that this is an imaginative exercise. Its purpose is not a historical examination of "what really happened" on that day in history. It's about something far more profound. This is an opportunity to use this long standing Christian prayer to let Christ show us the depth of his love for us. The context is the historical fact that he was made to carry the instrument of his death, from the place where he was condemned to die, to Calvary where he died, and that he was taken down and laid in a tomb. The religious context is that today Jesus wants to use any means available to move us to know his love for us. These exercises can allow us to imaginatively visualize the "meaning" of his passion and death.

The point of this exercise is to lead us to gratitude. It will also lead us into a sense of solidarity with all our brothers and sisters. In our busy, high tech lives we can easily get out of touch with the terrible suffering of real people in our world. Journeying with Jesus in the Stations, allows us to imagine his entry into the experience of those who are tortured, unjustly accused or victimized, sitting on death row, carrying impossible burdens, facing terminal illnesses, or simply fatigued with life.

How to:

Just go from one station to another. When "arriving" at a station, begin by looking carefully at the image itself.  See who is in the scene. Look at how they are arranged and what the artist who created the image is trying to tell us about the drama there.

When to do them:

Do the stations as often as you like, but especially through Lent and on Good Friday. The only advice I'd offer is to not rush through them. Just reading through them is not making them, any more than walking around a church to look at them is making them. It could be a wonderful prayer experience to do them as only one or two stations a day for one or two weeks. It can also be powerful to do all 14, very prayerfully, over the course of 40 minutes to an hour, in a single evening, or to do seven one night and seven the following night. Finally, it can be wonderful to return to the experience several weeks or months later, and discover that because of some struggle or difficulty we are experiencing, the stations become a different experience and a fresh experience of consolation..