Walking the Way of the Cross with Pope Benedict

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Father John Zuhlsdorf posted a suggestion on his blog: perhaps this Lent, as he steps down from the Chair of Peter, we might use the Stations he composed for use in 2005, by his predecessor, Blessed John Paul.

As I prepared to lead stations tonight at Saint Rose, I decided to do it. 

Unfortunately, I had no booklets; but I was able to copy the material from a website online, and then set it up in makeshift pamphlets for the people to use. If I had more time, I could have prepared nicer booklets, alas. In order to keep the pages manageable while keeping the text readable, the pamphlets I passed out tonight only had the parts the people would recite--the meditations the Holy Father prepared, I only included in my copy.

Now, fair warning--they are a bit long. We would normally be finished around 8:40 (we also had Benediction afterward, to conclude a day of Exposition); tonight it was just shy of 9 pm. In fact, I shortened them a bit as it is; the Holy Father also included a reading of Scripture for each station. And, I omitted the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be that are usually included.

That said, the Holy Father's meditations are--as you might expect--beautiful.

If you want to see them, you can find them here. (I also changed the Latin texts to English.)

If you want to use them in your parish, and you want me to email the materials I prepared, mention in the comments.