Scriptural Stations of the Cross — Four Versions
About this book
There are already a great many published versions of the Stations of the Cross. So, why have I undertaken to write a new version?
Through two millennia it has been the story of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, that has set Jesus apart from all other men and women who have dedicated their lives to showing their fellow men the way to God. St. Peter and St. Paul suffered and died for Christ’s gospel, but only Christ himself has been witnessed as having been raised from the dead.
I first became acquainted with the Stations of the Cross when I was a boy in the late 1940s. I still have my little red book of Stations of the Cross for Children, printed by the Paulist Press.
My reasons for writing this book
Throughout my life, the Stations of the Cross have generally been utilized as a Lenten devotion. I write my version of the Stations, to create a version for daily meditation. I do so, to provide four versions of the stations – each one based on one of the four separate Gospel accounts — to keep the devotion fresh.
The reason for creating my version of the Stations, therefore, is to move the Stations of the Cross from being a once-a-week Lenten devotion into the realm of a year-around daily devotion.
And there was another reason. In my little red book, there were fourteen stations. As I grew older, I slowly came to realize that six of them had little or no basis in any of the four Gospels. And I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
Papal efforts to improve the devotion
On Good Friday 1991, Pope John Paul II introduced the Scriptural Way of the Cross to better align the devotion with the gospel accounts of Christ’s passion and death. Then, 16 years later, in 2007, Pope 'Benedict XVI approved this list of stations for both meditation and public celebration.
The Scriptural Way of the Cross [the new version of the stations], as approved by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, are as follows:
- Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane;
- Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested;
- Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin;
- Jesus is denied by Peter three times;
- Jesus is judged by Pilate;
- Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns:
- Jesus takes up his cross;
- Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene to carry his Cross;
- Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem;
- Jesus is crucified;
- Jesus promises his kingdom to the repentant thief;
- Jesus entrust Mary and John to each other;
- Jesus dies on the Cross; and
- Jesus is laid in the tomb.
I have used that list in creating my versions of the Scriptural Way of the Cross.
The uniqueness of my work
What I have done, that is unique, was to create four separate versions of the Stations of the Cross:
My first version can fairly be called the Scriptural Stations of the Cross according to St. Matthew. To the extent that Matthew has provided a gospel passage for a station, Matthew’s passage is used. If Matthew has written nothing concerning a particular station, the gospel account or passage of another of the evangelists is used.
My second version can fairly be called the Scriptural Stations of the Cross according to St. Mark. To the extent that Mark has provided a gospel passage for a station, Mark’s passage is used. If Mark has written nothing concerning a particular station, the gospel account or passage of another of the evangelists is used.
I did the same for the Gospels of Luke and John.
The bottom line is this: Where an evangelist says nothing about one of the new stations, I have taken the “artistic liberty” of interpolating the account of another evangelist to fill the void.
For each station, besides a passage from one of the four Gospels, I have also fashioned a “Meditation,” and a “Chant.”
The “Meditations” are entirely the results of my own efforts. There is one “Meditation” for each of the fourteen Stations. The fourteen “Meditaions” that appear in my Scriptural Stations of the Cross according to St. Matthew, also appear, without change, in my Scriptural Stations of the Cross according to St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John.
Similarly, the “Chants” I have supplied are the same in all four versions of my Scriptural Stations of the Cross. For example, the Chants that appear in Matthew’s version, are the same as those that appear in Mark’s version, and so on. There are all sung to the music of the hymn --Stabat Mater Dolorosa. (12th Century. Attributed to Jacopone da Toda 14th C.)
You will note that I have supplied alternative versions of the Chants after each station.
The first version is based on the lyrics created during the 19th century by Edward Caswall (1814 – 1878), which are in the public domain. Some of his verses I have used without change; others, I have modified, in an effort to tie them more closely to the language of the scriptures, and to eliminate archaic language. In my first version of my chants, I have tried to retain the “feeling” and “spirit” of Father Caswall’s lyrics. The Caswall lyrics may be fairly said to be “Mary-centric” — expressing the pain and feelings of Christ’s mother, as she follows her son to his crucifixion, and witnesses his suffering.
The second version of the lyrics — the alternative version — is entirely mine. My version may be said to be “scriptural-centric.” I created by second version from the language of the gospels.
The traditional music for the Stabat Mater hymn is set out on the last page hereof.
It is in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection that we find the special uniqueness of our Christian faith. We are told that St. Francis of Assisi, who is said to be the first person to receive the stigmata, held the passion of Christ in special veneration. Perhaps we should, too.
Because I am attempting to create a daily devotion, I have tried to keep each Station brief.