Customer Reviews

The Stations of the Cross With Pope John Paul II

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4 star:		(1)
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The Stations of the Cross with Pope John Paul II is a version that uses the modern Biblical stations with a 15th station, the resurrection. My personal bias is that the 15th station in inappropriate during Lent, that the resurrection should not be celebrated until the Triduum Easter vigil.

This version in terms of gesture and music is one of the more traditional versions. It assumes a communal celebration with Leader, Reader and "All". Each station begins with a short responsory and genuflection, the reader proclaims a scriptural passage related to the station, all kneel and the leader reads a short meditation applying the suffering of Christ at the station to our lives, the people respond with a short psalm excerpt, all stand and sing a verse of the Stabat Mater. Each station is accompanied by a line drawing.

Fr. Champlin has taken an innovation by Pope John Paul II and made it accessible to the devotion of those who walk the Way of The Cross in Lent. Basing each Station of The Cross on the passage from Scripture that covers the entire Passion and not just beginning at the condemnation and ending at the entombment this work takes on the character of "Lectio Divina". We are called to enter into the Scriptural passage and meditate on its implications for us.

I love this booklet. I carry it everywhere and have gifted it at least 3 times. The meditations are are gospel oriented and thought-provoking. I consider this to be a short example of what divine literature should be. Allowing us a gateway to prayer that is biblically based, meditative, and allows God to draw us closer to Him with our puny efforts. this gets a rare 5 star rating from me and you will get your few dollars worth many times over. Soli Deo Gloria,