Stations of the Cross - how and what?

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Graceejou

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In the bulletin each week our parish pastor notes that they will be praying stations of the cross every Friday at a certain time . I know it has something to do with prayer, but is there printable guide that I can find online that is appropriate for adults ? What is it, exactly and what do I do? When I first started praying the rosary, I printed up a little paper that showed me exactly what to do. Is there something like that available? Is this a sitting down prayer or walking around prayer? When I’ve asked about it, I get really vague answers. I don’t think many people realize that adults coming into the church don’t know these things but really want to participate.
 
Graceejou said:
In the bulletin each week our parish pastor notes that they will be praying stations of the cross every Friday at a certain time . I know it has something to do with prayer, but is there printable guide that I can find online that is appropriate for adults ? What is it, exactly and what do I do? When I first started praying the rosary, I printed up a little paper that showed me exactly what to do. Is there something like that available? Is this a sitting down prayer or walking around prayer? When I’ve asked about it, I get really vague answers. I don’t think many people realize that adults coming into the church don’t know these things but really want to participate.
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The Stations are a laudable prayer, however there are no strict rules on how to pray them (there are rules, but not strict ones), therefore they vary from one place to another. The only way to know what will happen is to get a copy of whatever book will be used. There are several popular ones out there (they’re not expensive either), but they won’t help you unless they match with what will happen at your parish.

There are just so many variations out there, that it’s impossible to predict what might be done at your own parish.

Just go there–since it’s already Friday afternoon (otherwise I’d suggest that you ask to borrow a book ahead of time). Whatever you might need, such as a prayerbook, will probably be provided.

The Stations are actually meditations on the 14 “events” that happened when Christ carried the cross from Pilate’s courthouse to the place of crucifixion. If you’ve ever noticed, most Catholic churches have 14 images displayed around the inside walls of the church—most often marked with Roman numerals. The stations are the 14 stopping-points in a procession (think stations along a train track). While it is a procession, unless the group is small, or they’re prayed outdoors, most of the time, the only people moving are the leader and anyone carrying a small cross or candles.

Here is a link to one version, just so that you have some idea of what it involves.

feastofsaints.com/wayofcrossalph.htm

Remember, it will be different at your parish.
 
There are many variations on the words used in the Stations of the Cross. In the parishes I’ve attended, the parish will hand out booklets to use for the Stations of the Cross so there’s no question which prayers/mediations are being used. You could call the parish and ask them if they provide booklets to use during the Stations and if not which version of the Stations they use.
 
Let me share this dream I had last week on this subject.

I dreamed I was being embraced by Pope Benedict with his head on my shoulder like a brother would. Then he moved back and said “did you go to the Stations of The Cross?” and I said “no,” because I do not. I thought he was going to cry. Then I woke.

Pretty strange ah? 🤷
 
Ed_Silvia said:
Let me share this dream I had last week on this subject.

I dreamed I was being embraced by Pope Benedict with his head on my shoulder like a brother would. Then he moved back and said “did you go to the Stations of The Cross?” and I said “no,” because I do not. I thought he was going to cry. Then I woke.

Pretty strange ah? 🤷
Click to expand...
Cervical pillows help me when that happens. You need
to support your neck as well as your head.
 
Graceejou said:
In the bulletin each week our parish pastor notes that they will be praying stations of the cross every Friday at a certain time . I know it has something to do with prayer, but is there printable guide that I can find online that is appropriate for adults ? What is it, exactly and what do I do? When I first started praying the rosary, I printed up a little paper that showed me exactly what to do. Is there something like that available? Is this a sitting down prayer or walking around prayer? When I’ve asked about it, I get really vague answers. I don’t think many people realize that adults coming into the church don’t know these things but really want to participate.
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In my experience like last week? Parishes that have
regularly scheduled Stations normally have their own
printout to be used. Go and see.
 
In our parish we have booklets that we pick up when we walk into the church.

We stay in our seats and turn towards the station that is being prayed before. The priest and altar boy are near the stations and follow them. Our church is designed in such a way that it wouldn’t be feasible for us to follow the priest for the prayers at the stations. They are all on one wall right next to each other.
 
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