Fr. Martin Fuchs´s sermon on 18thJanuary 2018, Prague, Czechia
Passion
Sunday
***
Dear faithful!
Beginning with this Sunday
we enter Our Lord’s time of suffering, His hour of which He had spoken so
often.
For the first time He spoke
of His hour at the wedding in Cana when the wine failed. “Woman … my hour has
not yet come.“ (John 2:4)
For the second time this
hour, His hour, is mentioned in the conflict with the Jews in the temple: “They
thought therefore to apprehend him: And no man laid hands on him, because his
hour was not yet come.“ (John 7:30)
For the third time we read
of His hour when Jesus taught the Pharisees in the treasury of the temple:
“…and no man laid hands on
him, because his hour was not yet come.“ (John 8:20)
At the Last Supper, this
hour was come, that he should pass out of this world to the Father. (John 13:1)
And at the Mount of Olives
it finally came: “…Sleep ye now and take your rest; behold the hour is at hand,
and the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hand of sinners.“ (Matthew 26:45)
This hour, His hour, is the
Passion, is His suffering. He came into the world in order to redeem men on the
Cross.
During this period we shall
contemplate the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. During this period Church
reads Christ’s Passion which the holy evangelists have transmitted to us. She
says the sorrowful Rosary, the Way of the Cross, and other devotional exercises
to honour Christ’s Passion, such as the devotion to the holy five wounds, the
devotion to the holy face etc.
Today let us reflect on one
of these devotions, the Way of the Cross.
- How did the devotion to the Way of the Cross develop?
- Why should we say the Way of the Cross?
- How should we say the Way of the Cross?How did the devotion of the Way of the Cross develop?
Ann Catherine Emmerich saw
how already the Mother of God, together with other women, often walked along
the Way of the Cross. Later other pious Christians followed them. Some stations
of the Cross are guaranteed by the Gospel, others by tradition, such as the
3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 9th station. The stations: “Jesus falls for the first
time under the Cross – Jesus meets His sorrowful Mother – Veronica wipes the
face of Jesus with a handkerchief – Jesus falls for the second time under the
Cross – Jesus falls for the third time under the Cross“, these stations are not
mentioned in the holy Gospel.
In early times already the
stations of the Cross were marked by stones or by chapels. In about 327 A.D.
the empress Helena gave orders to look for the Cross.
In the Chapel of the Finding
of the Holy Cross here in Prague we have a very beautiful portrayal of this
event above the altar. At that time empress Helena found three crosses and at
some distance the legend which had been fixed on the Cross of Our Lord and from
which Saint Evangelist John reports (19:20) that it had been written in three
languages – in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
But it could not be
determined on which one of the crosses the legend had been fixed. Then a
miracle brought the solution of this difficulty. After a fervent prayer Bishop
Macarius of Jerusalem ordered to impose the three crosses, one after another,
on the body of a seriously ill lady. The first two did not bring her any
recovery but the third one immediately cured her as is reported in the Roman
breviary on the 4th May.
Here in Prague the artist
did not portray an ill lady but a young man.
After Helena had found the
salutary Cross, she ordered to erect a magnificent church at the finding place
and in the church she left a piece of the Cross in a silver case. She brought
another piece of the cross to her son Constantine.
This piece was kept in Rome
in the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem which is now one of the seven
basilicas of Rome, besides St. Peter’s Basilica, the Basilica of Saint Paul,
the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the
Basilica of Saint Lawrence and the Basilica of Saint Sebastian.
Saint Helena also brought
her son the nails with which the Most Holy Body of Jesus had been nailed to the
Cross.
On her request Pope
Sylvester I granted indulgences to those who visited the places of the Passion.
The Franciscans to whom the
holy places had been entrusted since 1342 were the first to erect the Way of
the Cross in their churches, in order to give an alternative to those faithful
who could not make personally a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The devotion to the Way of
the Cross soon spread out beyond the churches of the Franciscans. In many places
entire Calvaries were erected such as for example the Calvary in Graz (Austria)
and in many places in Germany, France, Poland and other countries.
Pope Innocence XI was the
first to grant indulgences also for these Ways of the Cross, and thus the Way
of the Cross became one of the most popular devotions of the Catholic people.
The Way of the Cross did not
always and everywhere have 14 stations although this one finally prevailed.
Initially, there were only two stations in Jerusalem. In the pilgrimage church
of Maria Loreto in Bohemia (near the town of Eger) there is the Way of the
Cross with 27 stations. During the 15th century the Way of the Cross of seven
stations spread out, following the seven hours of day of the breviary and the
seven Roman basilicas.
Why
should we say the Way of the Cross?
Because:
- in all of our sufferings we find consolation in Christ’s Passion. Christ has taken on all the sufferings!
- our life is a way of the Cross and shall be the Way of the Cross: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.“ (Mt 16:24, Mk 8:34, Lk 9:23)
- the Way of the Cross is a school of virtue which contains everything that is needed to guide us to perfection.How should we say the Way of the Cross?
We should say it with the
intention to thank God, to change for the better and to gain the indulgence
which is connected with this devotion.
Someone who says the Way of
the Cross privately has to walk along the stations in order to gain a full
indulgence. If it is said in common, at least the priest who leads the prayer
has to walk along the stations. The faithful remaining at their seat should at
least honour each station by a genuflection.
Let us watch what Jesus
wants to teach us at every station: We should make no reply even if we are
condemned unjustly. We should bear our cross with love, rise again when we have
sinned and never lose heart. We should beg the Mother of God to come to our way
of Cross in order to console us.
Christ teaches us to let
others share our way of Cross sometimes and to bear grumpy persons. We should
profess our belif in God like Saint Veronica did and we should remember our
sins when we suffer. Like Christ we should be ready to give all we have for God
out of love and to be bound by the duties of our state and profession.
Like Christ we should accept
death from the hands of God devotedly and willingly. In the Holy Communion we
should receive Him in our bosom with the pure heart like the Mother of God did
after His Descent from the Cross; we should also take care for a Christian funeral.
Dear faithful,
After the people had
grumbled in the desert, God sent venomous serpents as a punishment. The people
cried out for Him and God ordered Moses to produce the brazen serpent.
Everybody who looked up to
it with confidence has been saved.
The brazen serpent is a
model for Christ’s Cross. Everybody who looks up to Christ’s Cross faithfully
and with confidence will be saved.
During the coming two weeks
let us particularly cultivate the devotions to Christ’s Passion! Amen.
