Holy Week and all of the liturgies in it focus essentially on three events, all of them deeply interrelated. Chronologically we begin with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and the institution of the Eucharist, which is the enduring re-presentation of the death and resurrection of Jesus in a way that you and I can share in that liberating, life-giving action.

In his encyclical “On the Eucharist and its Relationship to the Church,” our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, holds up the central teaching on the Eucharist. “When the church celebrates the Eucharist, the memorial of her Lord’s death and resurrection, this central event of salvation becomes really present and ‘the work of our redemption is carried out’” (11).

To ensure that the saving effect of his death and resurrection would reach each of us, Jesus instituted the Eucharist as a means of our sharing in it as if we had been present there. Catholic teaching uses the word “re-present,” that is, to make present anew the sacrifice of Christ. Thus what is repeated in its memorial celebration, its commemorative representation, is the sacrifice of the cross.

The next day, Good Friday, the church calls us to reflect on the passion and death of Jesus. At the heart of all four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — is the narrative of the sacred events of our salvation. In this article, I would like to reflect with you on the long-standing Catholic tradition of the Stations of the Cross. In a subsequent article we will complete these reflections by observations on the conclusion of the paschal mystery — the resurrection of Jesus.

In Catholic churches, whatever the architectural style and placement of sacred furnishings, we find the Stations of the Cross. These reproductions of the journey of Jesus along the Via Dolorosa impress upon us the terrible pain and suffering that Jesus endured as he made his way to the cross for our salvation.

The popularity of the Stations of the Cross during Lent points to an important part of Catholic tradition. We know that these 40 days of preparation anticipating the commemoration of the death and resurrection of our Lord is a time of spiritual renewal. What better place on which to focus than the cross on which our Savior won our redemption.

‘We adore you, O Christ ...’

In one of the most familiar and cherished forms of the Way of the Cross, we recite this invitation to prayer: “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.” To which we reply, “Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.” In this brief invitatory and response, St. Alphonsus Liguori captures the essence of the article of the creed that proclaims Jesus Christ “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.”

Here, the central role of Christ’s cross and resurrection in the good news that the apostles preached is evident. There is much more to this statement of faith than the simple recognition that Christ died. If by his cross Christ had not redeemed us, his death would have had little meaning. It is with eyes of faith that the apostles and every believer after them gazes on the cross and sees much more than just the instrument on which Jesus hung until he died.

Historical account

The fact of Jesus’ death and resurrection is the core of the historical account and personal witness found in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and referred to in other parts of the New Testament. Jesus was arrested, tried, sentenced, executed by crucifixion and was buried. But the historical fact of Jesus’ death must be understood through eyes of faith. The deep spiritual significance attached to the events related in the Gospel accounts is the reason why the church has so meticulously preserved the story of Jesus’ death.

While the Gospels are not narratives like newspaper accounts or stories on the evening news with which we are so accustomed today, the passion narratives report an actual event with the primary purpose of providing its theological significance and meaning. In other words, the death of Jesus is a theological reality that can only be interpreted with eyes of faith.

Toward the end of Mark’s Gospel, we read that as Jesus takes his last breath, the eyes of the Roman centurion are opened and he recognizes the meaning of what is happening. “Clearly this man was the Son of God!” (Mk 15:39). Later in explaining more profoundly the theological significance of Jesus’ death, St. Paul, in writing to the Romans, points out that “just as a single offense brought condemnation to all men, a single righteous act brought all men acquittal and life” (Rom 5:18).

Jesus, God-man

Jesus’ saving actions are the work of a person who is both God and man. They have, therefore, super-abundant value. The man Jesus Christ, who is God’s true Son, is the only one who could offer the Father a fitting atonement for sin. It is here that we see the immensity of God’s saving mercy. Not only does God save us, but God also brings about salvation in a very generous way, in a manner that honors the humanity he saves.

In Christ, God allows a human being to bring gifts worthy of salvation. St. Paul puts it this way: “For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many” (Rom 5:15).

Our part in Christ’s death

For centuries, spiritual writers have reminded us that our personal sins are in some way responsible for Christ’s passion. In her teaching and in the witness of her saints, the church has never forgotten that “sinners were the authors and ministers of all of the sufferings that the Divine Redeemer endured” (Roman Catechism I 5-11).

The church does not hesitate to attribute to Christians a share in the responsibility for the passion and death of Christ. Through our sins, which he took on himself and by his holy cross Jesus redeemed the world.

Death and resurrection

The sufferings of Jesus and the glory of his resurrection are inseparably joined in the paschal mystery. The preface for Easter proclaims, “By dying he destroyed our death and by rising he restored us to life.” The Father saved us not only by delivering up his Son for us but also by raising him from the dead (cf. 1 Peter 1:3-5). It is for this reason that we say the cross of Christ points toward and is fulfilled in the resurrection.