Week Fifteen: My Faith. New Vision

The Stations of the Cross are a 14-step Catholic devotion that commemorates Jesus Christ’s last day on Earth as a man. The 14 devotions, or stations, focus on specific events of His last day, and are commonly used as a mini pilgrimage as the individual moves from station to station.

The 13th station, as taken from Magnificat Lent Companion, Jesus is taken down from the cross, given to his mother in love, showing us the virtue of fortitude. Nothing can destroy the work of God. The dead body of Jesus is still a sacred body. The work of salvation continues. As we profess in the Creed,” he descended into hell.” A new vision of fortitude comes to birth in the world. The courage of the Christian martyrs enable them to die rather than deny what is held by Catholic and divine faith. martyrs, of yesteryear and today, exhibit the Holy Spirit‘s gift of fortitude in its most exquisite form. By their own courageous deaths, they remind us to have the true hierarchy of values in life. God is worth a life. Others who do not receive the gift of martyrdom must still imitate the spiritual fortitude and the martyrs. 

Heavenly father, your son‘s body was laid in the arms of his sorrow in mother to teach us not to dread natural death. Grant me the gift of fortitude so that I may not shrink from the difficulties that my Christian vocation poses, and may find comfort at last in the arms of my mother, Mary.