LOURDES PILGRIMAGE - GOING UP CALVARY HILL WITH JESUS

The photos below were taken on my way up the Hill of Espelugues, also known as Calvary Hill, in Lourdes on 29 May 2008. One of my dreams is to dress up as a bride and accompany Jerusalem's most eligible bachelor on His way to Calvary. That's why I like to relive again and again the last moments of our Lord's earthly life by meditating on the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary and watching Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". During my stay in Lourdes, I went up Calvary Hill (The Way of the Cross on the Espelugues Hill) with Jesus almost everyday. One of the highlights of the Catholic pilgrimage site in Lourdes is walking the path of Jesus through the Way of the Cross. Participation in the Stations of the Cross is a practical response to Our Lady's message of penance, conversion and purification.

The 1500 metre Way of the Cross starts somewhere near the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and winds its way up the steep forested hill with its highest point at the Twelfth Station (the crucifixion) and then winds downward to the Fifteenth Station and finally back to the Basilica. There are altogether 115 figures made of brightly painted cast iron illustrating the various scenes of the Passion of Christ at the 15 Stations of the Cross. Unique to Lourdes, these slightly larger-than-life-size 2 metres high statues were constructed by the Parisian sculptor, Maison Raffl, between the years 1901 and 1912. The Way of the Cross was inaugurated on two separate days in September 1912. The first seven stations were inaugurated on 14 September 1912, the feast day of the Glorification of the Holy Cross. The next seven stations were inaugurated on 15 September 1912, the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows. The cross at the Thirteenth Station was brought from Jerusalem in the year 1885. The fifteenth and last station, the Resurrection of Jesus, was a recent addition.

Most of the stations have been donated by the French dioceses while some have been donated by foreign pilgrims. The Fourth Station and Tenth Station were gifts from the German Association of the Virgin of Lourdes and the Hungarian Catholic Association respectively. The Fourteenth Station was donated by the Italian National Committee for Pilgrimages to Lourdes and the Holy Land.

The Way of the Cross is a powerful prayer experience as it is a representation of the path that Jesus walked on His way to the crucifixion. Let us make a daily spiritual pilgrimage of prayer through the Way of the Cross as we meditate on the Passion of Christ. Prayers give us strength, courage, wisdom, comfort, guidance  and hope particularly during diffcult times.

LOURDES:  THE WAY OF THE CROSS

1st Station: Jesus is condemned to death. At this station, the statue of Pontius Pilate is missing because it was blown up by unknown persons on 13 August 1983, one day prior to Pope John Paul II's visit to Lourdes.

2nd Station: Jesus carries His cross.

3rd Station: Jesus falls for the first time

4th Station: Jesus meets his mother

5th Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry His cross. In this photo, I missed out Simon, who was at the foot of the cross.

6th Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus. In this photo, I missed out Veronica, who was standing in front of Jesus.

7th Station: Jesus falls for the second time

8th Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem. "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children" (Luke 23:28).

9th Station: Jesus falls for the third time

10th Station: Jesus is stripped of His garments

 11th Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross

12th Station: Jesus dies on the cross. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost (Luke 23:46).

13th Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross

14th Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb

15th Station: Jesus rises from the death. On the rock in front of the tomb are the words (in Latin), "He has risen as He promised, Alleluia!" 

If you like this article, you may also like to read MURDER AT GOLGOTHA - REVISITING THE MOST FAMOUS CRIME SCENE IN HISTORY and THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. Please click here to view the content page of this blog as there is a complete list of my articles about Lourdes on this page.

References:

1.  Lourdes. Doucet Publications.
2.  Lourdes: In Bernadette Footsteps. MSM.
3.  Lourdes & Bernadette. Publisher "il Calamo"
4.  Discover Lourdes. MSM.
5.  Lourdes: Apparitions, Message, Pilgrimage. MSM.
6.  The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha. Oxford University Press.