My Favorite Lenten Devotion

I have been a little scattered brained lately- when one doesn’t have a job it’s difficult to keep an orderly schedule because one has to be more intentional about it.  You’d be surprised how many things I have forgotten or confused these past weeks because I wasn’t keeping my usual calendar up to date.  I also added way too much to my schedule thinking that I would be able to accomplish lots during this period of unemployment and soon realized that I needed to give some things up because looking for work is a demanding task.  Thus, I decided to try the Ignatian Exercises at a later time because with my trip to Mexico I missed two weeks and I really felt like I wasn’t giving it my all.  My days are quite busy between the job hunt and working on my eBay business (post to come on this) fulltime.  One thing that has been constant (though) is praying the Via Crucis every Friday in community this Lent.

Normally for Lent I give things up, but this Lent I decided that I wanted to add community prayer to my season.  The Stations of the Cross have always been one of my favorite prayers because there’s just so much going on.  Every Catholic Church has the Stations inside, thus as one prays one moves along from one to the next and music is usually incorporated.  It’s a beautiful tradition because the story of Jesus’ passion and resurrection is told in a very sensual way.  One moves along from one station to the next, traditional hymns are sung and the images at each station depict a moment in Jesus’ way to Calvary.  This year, I was able to pray it many ways which gave me a deeper love for this tradition.

At my parish, here in California, we pray it every Friday night and it’s followed by a parish Lenten dinner.  The church usually fills to capacity, thus the only people that move are the priest and the altar boys.  Carrying lit votives two altar boys move from one station to the next as well as the priest, the congregation just turns to face each station as we pray and sing accompanying Jesus to the cross.  In Mexico, I got to pray the Via Crucis outside.  People volunteer to recreate one station outside their homes; thus, the group travels throughout the town from one altar to the next.  It’s a good trek and many barrios simultaneously pray the stations every Friday during Lent (so the whole town is united in prayer). At the main parish of the town a group of people also pray the Stations, however here the entire group moves from one Station to the next carrying a cross and switching who lead the prayers.  This Friday, my RCIA group will do the Via Crucis at the beach.  Normally I go early, and set up the fourteen stations from one lifeguard tower to the other and when everyone arrives, we pray it - each student taking part carrying the cross and leading the prayers.

The Via Crucis is a prayer that can be done differently and creatively, I think that’s why I have such a great devotion to it.  It’s one of those prayers that involves all of my being and whether I am praying it outside, in the streets, at the beach or inside my parish it always moves me because it’s so easily interactive.  So, before Lent ends, I encourage you to make the time to pray the prayer of the season at least once.