Via Crucis – Let us meditate on the Way of the Cross, in Times of Pandemic.

Reflecting and praying about the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord is today an opportune spiritual and piety exercise, since it brings us closer to the most painful moments of his life, and it makes us sensitive to the pain that the world is experiencing due to COVID-19. For a long time, Christians have accompanied Jesus on the road to Calvary, praying, singing, reading his word and meditating on those passages that revive his condemnation, until we see the great light of his "Resurrection." Today we live in times where situations of suffering hit us due to the pandemic unleashed by COVID-19 and its consequences. In the midst of this context, the Via Crucis makes it possible to be in tune with those who suffer and who, in the person of Jesus, see their own pains, sufferings and joys reflected. If Jesus took upon himself the evil, the suffering, the lack of sensitivity and empathy of a sick society, to the point of giving his own life, then we have the "hope" that despite a "pandemic" or other circumstances, there will be nothing and no one that can separate us from the love of God: "Who then can separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, anguish, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, the sword?" (Rom 8.35). Praying the Stations of the Cross trains the spirit and prepares it to face "our precariousness" from the faith and love of God, which lightens our burden and makes the yoke bearable. The Stations of the Cross is an act of popular piety that manifests our love for Jesus and that comes to life every time we hear the refrain of adoration: "We adore you, Christ, and we bless you..." As long as that refrain is heard in the church and pilgrims walk along praying the last stations of the Lord's life, the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross will continue to live, it will have meaning and value of communion, especially when we take charge of the good of so many who are on the side of the road.

FREDY PEÑA, SSP.

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