Post by ironbark on Mar 16, 2016 19:21:28 GMT -5
All this doom-and gloom, rather than rejoicing the fact that Jesus is risen and sits at the Fathers right hand in Heaven.
The Catholic Church continues to pray over a dead Christ. The stations of the cross is a classic example. They kneel and pray before 14 statues and or pictures, -- that number being fixed in 1731 by Pope Clement XII describing the various events Jesus endured just before He died. I was forced to do this as a child and could not wait until I reached the age where I could get out of her!
As early as the 4th c., Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land would walk the route that Our Lord walked as He made His way to Golgotha for our salvation. When Muslims captured Jerusalem and it became too dangerous to make this pilgrimage, Christians replicated the sites back home in Europe, and there developed the "Stations of the Cross" devotion (also known as "Way of the Cross," "Via Dolorosa," or "Via Crucis").
The devotion consists of meditating on 14 events -- that number being fixed in 1731 by Pope Clement XII -- which took place during Christ's Passion, from His being condemned to His burial. Franciscans popularized the devotion, which was originally made outside, often along roads to shrines or churches. The Way of the Cross can still be made outside, of course -- a perfect idea for a Mary Garden -- but is usually made inside nowadays, especially during the Season of Lent and most especially on Good Friday.
The 14 stations are :
Jesus is Condemned to Die
Jesus is Made to Bear His Cross
Jesus Falls the First Time
Jesus Meets His Mother
Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross
Veronica Wipes Jesus' Face
Jesus Falls the Second Time
Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
Jesus Falls the Third Time
Jesus is Stripped
Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
Jesus Dies on the Cross
Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross
Jesus is Laid in the Tomb
No where in the entire Bible does Jesus, or any apostle mention these stations and the need to observe or pray over them. This practice is completely unbiblical.
!!
