Stations of the Cross by Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The Stations of the Cross, or Way of the Cross, is one of the oldest devotions practiced by Catholics around the world. It is believed that the first to pray it was the Blessed Virgin Mary, who accompanied the Lord through each moment of his Passion. After the burial of her Son, she returned to the Cenacle with Saint John. She walked again the same paths she had taken that day, following in the footsteps of her Son carrying the cross. And wherever she found some trace, she would stop, pray, and gather relics.

The Church recommends that we pray the Stations of the Cross every Friday in Lent for several reasons. First, the Stations of the Cross invites us to slow down the fast pace of daily life and turn our gaze back to the central mystery of our faith: the love of Jesus revealed in his Passion. At each station we contemplate a specific moment of his suffering, not as a mere historical memory, but as the supreme expression of a love that gives itself without measure. Meditating on this path helps us understand that every step toward Calvary was taken for us.

As we walk the stations, we not only recall what Christ suffered, but we allow his experience to shed light on ours. Suffering is part of the human condition, and the Stations of the Cross teaches us that we are not alone in our trials. Jesus walked the path of sorrow first and transformed it into a path of redemption. By uniting our crosses to his, we discover that our difficult moments, too, can help in his redemptive work.

Especially during Lent, this practice takes on an even deeper meaning. The Stations of the Cross becomes an opportunity to examine our lives in the light of the Lord’s Passion. Faced with his generous self-giving, we recognize our faults, our indifference, and everything that distances us from God. In this way, meditating on each station can awaken in us sincere repentance and a concrete desire for conversion.

More than a simple devotion, the Stations of the Cross is a true path of prayer. Each station invites us to interior silence, contemplation, and intimate dialogue with God. In that spirit of recollection, we learn to see our own difficulties from the perspective of the cross, discovering that, united to Christ, even suffering takes on new meaning. It is a privileged time to draw closer to the Lord and strengthen our spiritual life.

What is the Stations of the Cross?

The Stations of the Cross is a devotional practice that invites the faithful to accompany Jesus spiritually through the most painful hours of his earthly life: his Passion and his Death. Over fourteen moments—traditionally called stations—we contemplate the events that go from his condemnation in the praetorium to his burial.

The Latin expression Via Crucis literally means “Way of the Cross.” It refers to the route Our Lord took from the tribunal of Pontius Pilate to Mount Calvary. Over time, this name also came to designate the prayer itself by which Christians meditate, step by step, on the events of that redemptive journey.

The structure of the devotion is simple and deeply meditative. Each station corresponds to a specific scene of the Passion. The faithful pause briefly before each one—hence the name “station”—to contemplate the mystery, offer prayers, and make acts of repentance, gratitude, and love. The prayers that accompany each moment usually have a strongly penitential tone, moving souls to sorrow for their sins and increasing their love for the Savior.

Traditionally, the Stations of the Cross is prayed standing and, at certain moments, kneeling (especially at the 12th station, when Jesus dies on the cross). It is meant as a journey: you move from one station to the next, physically recalling Jesus’ path to Calvary. That is why, in churches, the images or reliefs representing the stations are usually arranged along the walls. When praying at home, it can be very helpful to have images of the Passion in view, to aid contemplation and help you imagine the Lord’s sufferings.

The origins of this devotion go back to the first centuries of Christianity. From very early on, the faithful felt the desire to honor the places made holy by Christ’s Passion in Jerusalem. A particularly valuable testimony is that of the Spanish pilgrim known as Egeria (or Silvia), who traveled to the Holy Land in the 4th century. In her account, the Peregrinatio, she describes how the Christians of Jerusalem, during Holy Week, would walk the path to Calvary, meditating on the events that took place there.

As for the stations, most are grounded in the Gospel accounts. Others, however, come from the living tradition of the Church, which over the centuries has deepened and completed the contemplation of these mysteries with scenes handed down through Christian devotion.

How to pray the Stations of the Cross by Saint Alphonsus?

The holy bishop recommends:

Kneel before the altar, make an Act of Contrition, and form the intention of gaining the indulgences either for yourself or for the souls in Purgatory.

The structure of Saint Alphonsus’ Stations of the Cross is as follows:

• By the sign of the Holy Cross + deliver us from our enemies + O Lord our God +
  In the name of the Father + and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
• Act of Contrition,
• Announcement of the station,
• The leader says:
  

  We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you

• The faithful respond
  

  Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

• A text for meditation,
• A related prayer,
• 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, and 1 Glory Be,
• A verse of a Lenten hymn is sung while moving to the next station.
• At the end, the Prayer before a crucifix is prayed, 5 Our Fathers, 5 Hail Marys, and 5 Glory Bes in honor of the five wounds of Jesus Christ, and 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, and 1 Glory Be for the intentions of the Holy Father and to gain the indulgences of the Stations of the Cross.

Act of Contrition

My Lord Jesus Christ, you walked this path with such great love in order to die for me, and I have offended you so many times by turning away from you through sin; but now I love you with all my heart, and because I love you, I sincerely repent of all the offenses I have committed against you. Forgive me, Lord, and allow me to accompany you on this journey. You are going to die for love of me; so I too want to live and die for love of you, my beloved Redeemer. Yes, my Jesus, I want to live always and die united to you.

R. Amen.

1st Station: Jesus is condemned to death

Consider how Jesus, after being scourged and crowned with thorns, was unjustly sentenced by Pilate to die crucified.

(Here a brief pause is made to consider the mystery, and the same at the other stations.)

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

2nd Station: Jesus carries the cross

Consider how Jesus, walking this path with the cross on his shoulders, was thinking of you and offering to his Father for your salvation the death he was about to suffer.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

3rd Station: Jesus falls the first time

Consider this first fall of Jesus beneath the Cross. His flesh was torn by the scourges; his head crowned with thorns, and he had already shed much blood, so he was so weak that he could scarcely walk; at the same time he carried that enormous weight on his shoulders and the soldiers pushed him; so that many times he faltered and fell on this path.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

4th Station: Jesus meets his Blessed Mother

Consider the meeting of the Son with his Mother on this path. Jesus and Mary looked at one another, and their glances were like arrows that pierced their loving hearts.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

5th Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross

Consider how the Jews, seeing that Jesus was growing weaker and weaker, feared that he might die on the way and, since they wanted to see him die the infamous death of the Cross, they forced Simon of Cyrene to help him carry that heavy wood.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

6th Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Consider how the devout woman Veronica, seeing Jesus so weary and his face bathed in sweat and blood, offered him a cloth and, as she wiped Our Lord with it, his holy image was imprinted upon it.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

7th Station: Jesus falls the second time

Consider the second fall of Jesus beneath the Cross, in which the pain of the wounds on his head and throughout his body is renewed for the afflicted Lord.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

8th Station: The women of Jerusalem weep for Jesus

Consider how some devout women, seeing Jesus in such a pitiable state, shedding blood along the way, wept with compassion; but Jesus said to them:

Do not weep for me, but for yourselves and for your children.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

9th Station: Jesus falls the third time

Consider the third fall of Jesus Christ. Extreme was his weakness and excessive the cruelty of the executioners, who wanted to make him hasten his steps when he scarcely had breath left to move.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

10th Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments

Consider how, when Jesus was stripped of his garments by the executioners, the inner tunic, stuck to the flesh flayed by the scourges, tore away the skin of his sacred body as well. Have compassion on your Lord and say to him:

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

11th Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross

Consider how Jesus, stretched out upon the Cross, extends his feet and hands and offers to the Eternal Father the sacrifice of his life for our salvation; those barbarous executioners nail him, and then raise the Cross on high, leaving him to die of pain upon that infamous gibbet.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

12th Station: Jesus dies on the cross

Consider how Jesus, after three hours of agony, consumed by suffering and his body exhausted of strength, bows his head and expires on the Cross.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

13th Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross

Consider how, after the Lord had already expired, two of his disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, took him down from the Cross and placed him in the arms of his afflicted Mother, Mary, who received him tenderly and pressed him to her breast, pierced with sorrow.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

14th Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb

Consider how the disciples carried Jesus to be buried, accompanied also by his Blessed Mother, who laid him in the tomb with her own hands. Then they closed the door of the tomb and withdrew.

Pause for meditation.

Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be.

Final Prayers

Prayer before a crucifix

Pray:

• 5 Our Fathers, 5 Hail Marys, and 5 Glory Bes in honor of the five wounds of Jesus Christ,
• 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, and 1 Glory Be for the intentions of the Holy Father and to gain the indulgences of the Stations of the Cross.

When we pray the Stations of the Cross, we relive the way of the cross. We walk in the footsteps of Jesus and his Blessed Mother. The purpose of this beautiful Lenten practice is to grasp how terribly cruel the Lord’s Passion was and, as a result, the immensity of his love. It should awaken in us a great horror of sin, which was the cause of all the Redeemer’s sufferings.

Likewise, in times of pain, let us remember the sufferings of the Savior and of Our Lady of Sorrows. We will feel truly comforted as we contemplate them. Let us never forget that after death comes the resurrection. At some point, the consolation and peace we so long for will come. And if not in this life, then in Heaven.

Want to live Lent with devotion? Here are some articles that may help you do so:

• All about Ash Wednesday: Do you want to start Lent in the best possible way? Gather your heart, meditate and participate in the Ash Wednesday Liturgy!
  
• What is Lent and why does it last 40 days?: Discover what Lent is, why it lasts 40 days, when it begins, and how to live this liturgical season with its beautiful spiritual practices.
• 4 Tips from Don Bosco for Lent: Do you want to live this Lent with fervor? Do you want it to be a time of great spiritual growth? Follow these tips from Don Bosco!
• Our Lady of Sorrows Rosary: Are you going through a difficult time? Contemplate Our Lady of Sorrows, take refuge under her mantle, and ask for her intercession to help you move forward.