Sacrificing for Jesus
Fasting during Lent has its origins in the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying. From Ash Wednesday to Easter, many people fast from certain foods or from certain actions like selflessness, bitterness, or anger. But the true purpose of Lent is to get us to be ready for the death and resurrection of Christ, through prayer, repentance of sins, and self- denial. One way to get ready for the Resurrection is to pray the Stations of the Cross which are commonly prayed during Lent on Wednesday and Fridays, especially on Good Friday on which the events actually occurred. The Stations of the Cross are a series of fourteen pictures portraying the events in passion of Christ, from his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to his entombment. The series of stations is as follows: (1) Jesus is condemned to death, (2) He is made to bear his cross, (3) He falls the first time, (4) Jesus meets his mother, (5) Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross to assist Jesus, (6) Veronica wipes Jesus’s face, (7) Jesus falls the second time, (8) the women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus, (9) Jesus falls the third time, (10) he is stripped of his garments, (11) Jesus is nailed to the cross, (12) Jesus dies on the cross, (13) He is taken down from the cross, and (14) Jesus is placed in the sepulcher. The images are usually mounted on the inside walls of a church or chapel to assist us in meditating on each scene of Jesus’s passion and death.