Holy Week
March 21-25
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
We hope you might make a special effort to visit our Chapel during Holy Week for prayer and meditation. Devotional material and the stations of the cross will be available for visitors to view and reflect upon during their time of prayer and meditation.
Stations of the Cross
From the earliest days of the church, Christians have journeyed to Jerusalem to retrace the path Jesus took as he carried his cross from Pilate’s house to Golgotha. This path has become known as the Via Dolorosa or “Way of Sorrow” St. Jerome (325-420CE) who translated the Bible into Latin wrote of hundreds of pilgrims in Jerusalem who walked this devotional path in his day. Markers were put into place where Jesus started, received the cross, stopped and fell, met his mother, and was assisted by Simon of Cyrene. There was no set number of stations in Jerusalem, but eventually the number was generalized in Europe to 14 stations.
These 14 stations are routinely walked and meditated upon during Lent and especially during Holy Week. Our lives are about following the Way of Christ, including the taking up of our own crosses. The 14 Stations of the Cross trace Jesus’ path from Pilate’s house to Golgotha to his tomb, mixing some events that we find in Scripture with some that come to us via the tradition of the church.
RRCB’s Stations of the Cross
We will have the Stations of the Cross set up in the chapel Monday – Friday during business hours next week. The walk takes no longer than a lunch break. Each station will have a written explanation and prayer. You may walk and read these to yourself or come in a group and have a person read at each station.
This journey is a walk of prayer and reflection. At every point along the way where we stop and pray, is a station on the journey of Jesus to the Cross. The stations provide space for worshipers to reflect on the passion of Christ, from the moment of his condemnation to his body being laid rest in the tomb. The movement between stations, the meditation on the scriptural narrative, and the prayers uttered as one walks the stations, create a spiritual environment that will provide a special place to experience the power and sorrow of the week leading to a joyous resurrection on Easter morning.
The Chapel is open for prayer Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm regularly. We will have special material available for Holy Week.