What is "The Stations of The Cross?"

It is a service of the church including prayers and music where the worshippers "visit" fourteen events (usually depicted in art) that made up the last hours of Jesus' life.  Each station is visited by the congregation and prayers, reflections and song are made at each point along the way.

Why Do The Stations  of The Cross?

The Stations of the Cross is a powerful way to contemplate, and enter into, the mystery of Jesus' gift of himself to us.  It takes the our reflection on the passion of our Lord out of our head, and makes it an imaginative excercise.  It involves our senses, our experience and our emotions.  To the extent I come to experience the love of Jesus for me, and for the whole world, to that extent the gratitude I feel will be deep.  Deep gratitutde leads to real generosity and a desire to love as we have been loved. 

The History

From the earliest of days, followers of Jesus told the story of his passion, death and resurrection.  When pilgrims came to see Jerusalem, they were anxious to see the sites where Jesus was.  These sites become important holy connections with Jesus.  Eventually, following in the footsteps of the Lord, along the way of the cross, became a part of the pilgrimage visit.  The stations, as we know them today, came about when it was no longer easy or even possible to visit the holy sites.  In the 1500's, villages all over Europe started creating "replicas" of the way of the cross, with small shrines commemorating the places along the route in Jerusalem.  Eventually, these shrines became the set of 14 stations we now know and were placed in almost every Catholic Church in the world.