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The Way of the Cross
The Way of the Cross
Jesus' Passion and Death
Tradition has it that when Our Lady was living in Jerusalem, she had never failed, ever since Our Lord's death, to follow His path to Calvary with tears of compassion. She had paced out and measured all the distances between the Stations of that Via Crucis, and her love for her Son made her unable to live without this constant contemplation of His sufferings. At each Station, she sat down and renewed the mystery of its significance in her heart, praising the Lord for His love with tears of compassion.
From 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 became important holy connections with Jesus. Eventually, following in the footsteps of the Lord, along with 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 created 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.
The purpose of the Stations of the Cross is to remind us of the effects of sin and the salvation won for us through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As we meditate on the Stations, we are moved to renounce sin and to accept Jesus as our Savior.
WERE YOU THERE
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
HOLY GROUND
This is holy ground, we're standing on holy ground,
For the Lord is present and where He is, is holy.
This is holy ground, we're standing on holy ground,
For the Lord is present and where He is is holy.
These are holy hands, He's given us holy hands,
He works through these hands, and so these hands are holy.
These are holy hands, he's given us holy hands,
He works through these hands, and so these hands are holy.
These are holy lips, He's given us holy lips,
He speaks through these lips, and so these lips are holy.
These are holy lips, He's given us holy lips,
He speaks through these lips, and so these lips are holy.
Copyright: 1982 Universal Music - Brentwood Benson Publishing (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.), Birdwing Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)
JESUS REMEMBER ME
Jesus remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus remember me, when you come into your kingdom.
The First Station
Jesus is Condemned to Death
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: The crowd, incited by their leaders kept shouting, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate spoke to them, wishing to release him, "Why? What evil has this man done? I find no crime in him deserving death." They persisted with their cries, "Crucify him, crucify him!", and they prevailed.
Consider how Jesus Christ, after being scourged and crowned with thorns, was unjustly condemned by Pilate to die on the cross. Yes, this was an unjust judgment, but it was part of God's providential plan. In fact, Jesus told us, "No one takes my life from me. I freely give it." He freely laid it down so that in His death we might have salvation. And Pilate bent to public opinion. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, but he gave in to all the peer pressure, all the public pressure. It is a reminder to us. We, perhaps too often, bend to the pressures around us when we know better; when we know we should stand by Jesus.
All: My adorable Jesus, it was not Pilate; no it was my sins that condemned you to die. I beseech you by the merits of this sorrowful journey, to assist my soul on its journey to eternity. I love you, my beloved Jesus. I love you more than I love myself. With all my heart I repent of ever having offended you. Never let me be separated from you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: Have you ever been falsely accused? How did you take it? Have you ever falsely accused someone else?
Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but the emperor." Then he handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. (John 19: 15b-16).
The Second Station
Jesus Takes up His Cross
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: The soldiers had their sport in taunting him, "Hail to the King of the Jews." They mocked him with a purple cloak and the crown of thorns. Then when their fun waned, they laid the hard, dead wood on his shoulders. He accepted it willingly, eagerly.
Consider Jesus as He walked this road with the cross on His shoulders, thinking of us, and offering to His Father, on our behalf, the death He was about to suffer. A disciple is asked to take up his cross. Jesus took up the cross and said to each of us, you too must bear a cross. We do not always know the crosses that others bear. But we do know each one of us is called to take up the cross, bear it and as Jesus did, transform that cross into an instrument of grace and salvation. Jesus' example is an example for us.
All: My most beloved Jesus, I embrace all the sufferings you have destined for me until death. I beg you, by all you suffered in carrying your cross, to help me carry my cross with perfect peace and resignation. I love you, my beloved Jesus. I love you more than I love myself. With all my heart I repent of ever having offended you. Never let me be separated from you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: What is your cross? Does suffering have value for you and in the eyes of God?
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot by my disciple. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. (Lk 14. / Mt 10)
Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull. (John 19: 17)
The Third Station
Jesus Falls the First Time
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: Tradition speaks of Jesus falling three times on his painful journey. Exhausted and overcome by the oppressive burden, he fell to the ground. But to those who are called, this broken Jesus is the Christ, the power and the wisdom of God. For "God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength" (1 Cor. 1).
Consider the first fall of Jesus. Loss of blood from the scourging and crowning with thorns had so weakened Him that He could hardly walk; and yet He had to carry that great load upon His shoulders. As the soldiers struck Him cruelly, He fell several times under the heavy cross but each time he got up to carry on. Spiritual writers tell us that this was meant to be for us a reminder that in our falls, many as they may be, our failures, our sin, we must always find the grace to get back up. We must always find the grace to continue on and Jesus freely offers that grace, that love, that compassion. In absolution our sins are wiped away so we can stand, once again, tall and begin our life's journey to glory.
All: My beloved Jesus, it was not the weight of the cross but the weight of my sins which made you suffer so much. By the merits of this first fall, save me from falling into mortal sin. I love you, Jesus, with all my heart; I am sorry for having offended you. May I never offend you again. Grant that I may love you always and then do with me what you will.
Group Question: How do you find the grace to rise when you fall to sin? What motivates you to try to avoid that sin in the future?
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden light" (Mt. 11)
The Fourth Station
Jesus Meets His Mother Mary
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: Tradition tells us of a meeting of mother and son on his way to execution. She was so much the center of the beginning of this redemptive mystery; she was with him for many of his preaching and healing adventures; she would stand beneath the cross at the end.
Consider how the Son met His Mother on the way to Calvary. Jesus and Mary gaze at each other and their looks became as so many arrows to wound those hearts which loved each other so tenderly.
The sorrowful Mother standing along the way of the cross and accepting in her heart this pain, this sorrow, but accepting in faith that there was meaning to this, there was purpose. God had a plan and all of this was a part of God's saving plan for His people. Like Mary, we too can have that strength of faith even in our suffering and sorrow to see meaning to God's plan for us.
All: My most loving Jesus, by the pain you suffered in this meeting, grant me the grace of being truly devoted to your most holy mother. And you my Queen, who was overwhelmed with sorrow, obtain for me by your prayers a tender and lasting remembrance of the passion of your divine Son. I repent of ever having offended you. Never allow me to offend you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: What do you think went on in the Heart of Mary in this encounter? Who is Mary to you?
This child is destined to be a sign that is rejected -- and a sword will pierce your own soul too. (Lk. 2)
The Fifth Station
Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: "And they forced a certain passerby, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, to carry his cross behind him" (Mt. 15 / Lk. 23) Jesus had not enough strength to support his cross. His spirit was willing, but his flesh - our flesh - was weak. In a short while, the cross would embrace him.
Consider how weak and weary Jesus was. At each step He was at the point of expiring. Fearing that He would die on the way when they wished Him to die the shameful death of the cross, they forced Simon of Cyrene to help carry the cross after our Lord.
"Why me?" protested Simon; and like him we also often protest. It can be hard to bear the burden of discipleship. Each one of us can participate in that effort to carry the cross for a brother or sister, to help carry the cross of those in need around us.
All: My beloved Jesus, I will not refuse the cross as Simon did: I accept it and embrace it. I accept in particular the death that is destined for me with all the pains that may accompany it. I unite it to your death and I offer it to you. You have died for love of me; I will die for love of you and to please you. I repent of ever having offended you. Never allow me to offend you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: Do you help people carry their crosses? Who is the person God is asking you to help now?
"Each one has his own load to carry," and yet we are called also to "help bear one another's burdens". (Gal 6)
The Sixth Station
Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: Legend has it that while Christ was carrying his cross, a woman moved with pity, wiped the sweat and blood from his face with her veil. As a reward for her kindness, his image was left on the veil. Perhaps the rumors of a true image of Christ, imprinted on cloth, lay behind this legend. The name "Veronica" means "true image". Mother Teresa of Calcutta wiped the sores of the hopeless and the dying, because she saw the image of Christ in them, not in her towel.
Consider the compassion of the holy woman, Veronica. Seeing Jesus in such distress, His face bathed in sweat and blood, she presented Him with her veil. Jesus wiped His face and left upon the cloth the image of His sacred countenance.
Isaiah speaks of the suffering servant, beaten, bruised, bloody and we realize that it is our sins that have disfigured the face of Jesus. It is our failure that has brought Him to this point and we see in the compassion of Veronica our own ability to be compassionate, caring, even in the smallest things that make such a difference.
All: My beloved Jesus, your face was beautiful before you began this journey; but now it is no longer beautiful and is disfigured with wounds and blood. Alas, my soul also was once beautiful when it received your grace in Baptism; but I have since disfigured it with my sins. You alone, my Redeemer, can restore it to its former beauty. Do this by the merits of your passion; and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: Have you seen the Face of Christ in someone suffering and tried to "wipe their face" to comfort them?
The story of Veronica is told in early apocryphal writings, some reporting that she was the same woman Jesus cured of a blood disorder. (see Mt. 9: 20-22)
The Seventh Station
Jesus Falls the Second Time
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: "We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all" (Isa. 53). "For our sake God made him who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God'(2 Car. 5). Laden with our sin, Jesus fell again. Consider how the second fall of Jesus under His cross renews the pain in all the wounds of the head and members of our afflicted Lord. In the fall we are reminded once again of the burdens that we carry, of all of the baggage that we carry that brings us too often to our knees, and how we need constantly to have the courage to get back up under the weight of our own failure, to shed that failure and to move on with our life. And Jesus got back up under the weight of the cross as a sign to you and to me that we have the strength, we have the grace, all we need to do is have the courage.
All: My most gentle Jesus, how many times you have forgiven me; and how many times I have fallen again and begun again to offend you! By the merits of this second fall, give me the grace to persevere in your love until death. Grant, that in all my temptations, I may always have recourse to you. I am sorry that I have offended you. Never let me offend you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: When you fall, do you get up right away? Do you get discouraged and depressed after your fall?
"Get up and walk . .. your sins are forgiven you" (Mk. 2)
The Eighth Station
Jesus Speaks to the Women
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: "Large numbers of people followed him, including many women, who moaned and lamented for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me,· weep rather/or yourselves and for your children. For the days will surely come when people will say; Happy are those who are barren, the wombs that have never borne, the breasts that have never nursed.' then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us'; to the hills, Cover us' For if men use the green wood like this, what will happen when it is dry?" (Lk. 23). Jesus is the green wood, the living vine, scorched by his agony. Apart from him, we are dead branches and doomed.
Consider how the women wept with compassion seeing Jesus so distressed and dripping with blood as He walked along. All that He bore, all the pain and suffering, the agony, the falls, unto His very death, all of this was for us. Jesus reminded them that we need to make sure we do not let this opportunity for salvation pass us by. Make sure that the wonder of God's grace is something we grasp and hold onto.
All: My Jesus laden with sorrows, I weep for the sins which I have committed against you because of the punishment I deserve for them; and still more, because of the displeasure they have caused you who have loved me with infinite love. It is your love, more than the fear of hell, which makes me weep for my sins. My Jesus, I am sorry for having offended you. Never allow me to offend you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: Have you wept for your sins? The sins of your relatives? The sins of your nation?
The Ninth Station
Jesus Falls the Third Time
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: His strength totally failed him. Tradition tells us that Jesus, utterly exhausted, fell for the third time. "Strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12). I must come to know that "My strength and my courage is the Lord" (Ps 113).
Consider how Jesus Christ fell for the third time. He was extremely weak and the cruelty of His executioners was excessive; they tried to hasten His steps though He hardly had strength to move.
How many people caught in addiction, how many people caught in vice, seem pulled down every day, and yet in this station Jesus gets back up. He is saying to you and to me with God's grace we can overcome anything; we can get back up and that is the grace of the cross.
All: My outraged Jesus, by the weakness you suffered in going to Calvary, give me enough strength to overcome all human respect and all my evil passions which have led me to despise your friendship. I love you, Jesus, my love with all my heart; I am sorry for ever having offended you. Never permit me to offend you again. Grant that I may love you always and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: What can you do to avoid the near occasion of sin? Will God always forgive you?
They who hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. (Isa. 40).
The Tenth Station
Jesus is Stripped of His Garments
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: This was the place of the skull, Golgotha. What was left of the condemned prisoner? His honor was shattered in the courtyard by the soldiers' taunts; his strength was left behind in every step of the death march. Only his sense of modesty remained, and that, too, is torn away with his clothing. The soldiers divided Jesus' clothes among them, and cast lots for his garments.
Consider how Jesus was violently stripped of His clothes by His executioners. The inner garments adhered to His lacerated flesh and the soldiers tore them off so roughly that the skin came with them. The garments were Jesus' last earthly possessions and they were stripped from Him so that He could offer Himself completely and entirely to the Father for our sins.
To please Jesus we have to strip our heart of all sorts of unworthy affections and pretenses, desiring nothing other than God.
All: My innocent Jesus, by the torment you suffered in being stripped of your garments, help me to strip myself of all attachment for the things of the earth that I may place all my love in you who are so worthy of my love. I love you, Jesus, with all my heart; I am sorry for having offended you. Never let me offend you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: How are you striving for greater purity of heart, mind, body, soul and intention? Have you ever stripped someone of their dignity?
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. (Jn 19:23a)
The Eleventh Station
Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: Jesus is nailed to the cross. The feet which carried the good news from town to village, the hands which so often were raised in praise and blessing, which so often reached down to raise up the lowly, are now fixed in an everlasting embrace of all peoples of all times. Pilate had a sign posted saying, "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews".
Consider Jesus, thrown down upon the cross, He stretched out His arms and offered to His Eternal Father the sacrifice of His life for our salvation. They nailed His hands and feet, and then, raising the cross, left Him to die in anguish.
All the physical pain, all the brutalities visited upon Jesus, they are transformed by His love. In His love He changed that brutality into grace giving, life giving reality. And we are challenged as well to find meaning in our own personal suffering in the cross of Christ. We are challenged to see in Jesus, in His death, meaning for the suffering, the cross that we bear, that each one of us bears. Because it is in the light of faith, it is seeing all that we bear, our own small crosses, seeing them in the light of faith that gives meaning to them, value to them, and purpose just as Jesus did when He was nailed to the cross.
All: My despised Jesus, nail my heart to the cross that it may always remain there to love you and never leave you again. I love you more than myself; I am sorry for having offended you. Never permit me to offend you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me as you will.
Group Question: Are you driving nails into the hands and feet of Jesus? Into others in this world?
But Thomas said, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe" (Jn. 25b)
The Twelfth Station
Jesus Dies on the Cross
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: At last Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Having said this, he expired. (Lk. 23)
Consider how your Jesus, after three hours of agony on the cross, is finally overwhelmed with suffering and, abandoning Himself to the weight of His body, bows His head and dies.
In this moment is our redemption accomplished. From the very beginning Jesus knew this was why He came into the world. "No one takes my life from me", He said, "I freely give it." And in the blood of the cross He washed away all of our sins. In the agony, the suffering, the passion and His death He won for us our redemption. Freedom from everything that separated us from God is now His gift to us. He opened the gates of heaven. Everything that was closed to us, all of our separation from God has now been removed. In that suffering and death is our salvation. And the cross stands as that sign for you and for me every day in our life. We have been freed by the blood of Christ, lovingly, caringly, compassionately and freely given for you and for me.
All: My dying Jesus, I devoutly kiss the cross on which you would die for love of me. I deserve, because of my sins, to die a terrible death; but your death is my hope. By the merits of your death, give me the grace to die embracing your feet and burning with love for you. I yield my soul into your hands. I love you with my whole heart. I am sorry for having offended you. Never let me offend you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.
Group Question: Would you be ready to meet your maker now? Why? Why not?
The Thirteenth Station
Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: And when evening had come, Joseph of Arimathea, prominent member of the Sanhedrin, arrived and boldly went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate released the corpse to Joseph, who bought a shroud, and took Jesus down from the cross.... (Mk. 15)
Consider how, after our Lord had died, He was taken down from the cross by two of His disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, and placed in the arms of His afflicted Mother. She received Him with unutterable tenderness and pressed Him close to her bosom.
In this touching scene the broken body of Christ is placed in the arms of His Mother and we see in this final scene, the Mother cradling the broken body of her Son, we see in the image now of the Church. The Church is now continuing, taking up spiritually where the mystery of Christ's redemption concludes. And Mary is the model of faith even in the broken body of her Son, faith in His promises, faith in His word. So do we in imitation of her faith place our faith in Jesus.
All: O Mother of Sorrows, for the love of you Son, accept me as your servant and pray to Him for me. And you , my Redeemer, since you have died for me, allow me to love you for I desire only you and nothing more. I love you, Jesus my love, I am sorry that I have offended you. Never let me offend you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.
Group Question: Do you take your neighbor down from the cross or keep him on the cross? What does the saying from Isaiah, "By His wounds we are healed" mean to you?
The Fourteenth Station
Jesus is Placed in the Sepulcher
Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. (Genuflect)
All: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Leader: "Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus -- the same one who had first come to Jesus at night -- took the body and wrapped it in linen cloths with spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes, following the Jewish burial custom. At the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried. Since it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was near at hand, they laid Jesus there". (Jh. 19)
Consider how the disciples carried the body of Jesus to its burial, while His Holy Mother went with them and arranged it in the sepulcher with her own hands. They then closed the tomb and all departed. Jesus in His human nature truly died for our salvation.
All: O, my buried Jesus, I kiss the stone that closed you in. But you gloriously did rise again on the third day. I beg you by your resurrection that I may be raised gloriously on the last day, to be united with you in heaven, to praise you and love you forever. I love you, Jesus, and I repent of ever having offended you. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.
Group Question: How does the phrase, "Bury my sins, O Lord, with you in the tomb" relate to your faith journey?
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, were there, sitting opposite the tomb. (Mt. 27:60)
CLOSING
Leader: We have joined you, O Jesus, on the Way of the Cross. The hours of suffering are over, "It is finished." From the hill of the Skull we move to the garden of burial. Hardly breathing, we wait for the Father's response to the loving and obedient gift of your life. On Easter morning you will rise again, the pledge of the Father fulfilled, a pledge you offer to us. For if we have been united with you in the likeness of your death, O Lord, we shall be so in the likeness of your resurrection (cf. Romans 6)
And as we conclude our Way of the Cross we pray:
All: God our Father, you allowed your Son to be beaten, bruised, humiliated and killed. Help us always to be thankful for what Jesus did for us so that we can one day be with Him in heavenly paradise. Please send us your Spirit, your guide and instrument of peace so that we may have the courage, strength and perseverance to follow Jesus from the agony in the garden to the victory of the resurrection. And this we ask through in our Savior's Name, Jesus Christ, the Lord.
AMEN
The Old Rugged Cross
In 1913, George Bennard (1873-1958) was struggling with a problem that caused him much suffering. His mind went back again and again to Christ's anguish on the cross. This was the heart of the gospel! The cross he pictured was no gold-covered icon. It was a rough, splintery thing, stained with gore. It was the cross, the cross of Christ.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
the emblem of suffering and shame;
and I love that old cross where the dearest and best
for a world of lost sinners was slain.
Refrain:
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.
0 that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
has a wondrous attraction for me;
for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above
to bear it to dark Calvary
(Refrain)
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
a wondrous beauty I see,
for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
to pardon and sanctify me
(Refrain)
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then he'll call me some day to my home far away,
where his glory forever I'll share.
(Refrain)
History of the Wooden Sign
Easter 1999
Our intent was to create a version of the inscription written and placed above Jesus on the cross that includes the three languages as per John 19:20 ...and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.
In Latin, we used the words of the Evangelist John 19:19, "Jesus of Nazareth (the Nazorean), King of the Jews" as it is traditionally used in Latin and is abbreviated INRI on most crucifixes.
In Greek, we used the words of the Evangelist Luke 23:38 "This is the King of the Jews" since he was a Gentile (Greek) and was writing to their concerns.
In Hebrew we used the words (read right to left) of the Evangelist Matthew 27:37 "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews" for his Christian Jewish audience.
History of the Cross
At the break of dawn one chilly February morning, a good friend of mine was pounding on my front door shouting, "Come on, let's go build the cross!" That morning Gary Taylor and I began the plans for the 50-foot cross that you will hike to today.
Building the cross took two months of back-breaking, and at times, treacherous work. The first two weeks, Gary, Antonio, my brother Tom and I spent digging down six feet into the sandstone using a small jackhammer. In order to get the beams up to the location (1/4 mile), we had to build a ski lift-like structure using a tractor to pull the beams, bringing them up one at a time. After the first four beams were placed in the hole and bolted together, we used the cross itself to finish the building. Working day and night for many weeks, we finally finished the night before Good Friday of 1997. That Good Friday, we did an impromptu "Stations of the Cross" with Frank and Susan Cunningham and their four children. That initial group of eleven has grown significantly over the past years.
My friend Gary Taylor, who was instrumental in the building of the cross, was killed in a construction accident in 1999. There is a plaque at the base of the cross which reads, "The Cross, inspired by Gary Taylor." My wife Diane and I feel truly blessed that God has allowed us to live and raise our five daughters on this beautiful property.
We have hosted annual events and retreats on the property for many years, and love sharing this little piece of Heaven with others. Our dream of opening a Catholic Christian retreat center became reality when Santiago Retreat Center opened in 2010. Santiago now provides Southern California with a Catholic retreat center close to home where pilgrims can “take leave of” their lives and go “off to the mountain to pray.” (Mark 6:46)
Over 30,000 pilgrims a year make the journey to Santiago for all kinds of events and activities: Confirmation and ministry leader retreats, summer camps, outdoor education, homeschool outings, etc. Our mission is to meet each pilgrim along their way and to provide an opportunity for them to recollect, pray, encounter Heaven, and be transformed along The Way. Having a place to retreat and “go off to pray” is essential for each pilgrim’s personal renewal as well as the renewal of parish life and the universal Church!
As such, we never turn away a pilgrim for lack of funds and always appreciate donations to support Santiago's scholarship fund. For upcoming events, please check out our website www.santiagoretreatcenter.org. If you are interested, or have a friend, relative, or business associate that would like to help with this ministry, please contact us. We humbly ask for your prayers to persevere ONWARD (Ultreya!) in this huge undertaking.
God Bless you and Buen Camino!
Dan and Diane
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