Cardinal Tobin: The Way of the Cross

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

Five years ago, during Holy Week 2020, I offered the reflections below as a way of praying the Stations of the Cross in response to the coronavirus pandemic that caused so much suffering and death and that made millions of people anxious and afraid. Thank God, the immediate effects of this pandemic are behind us now, but many of our sisters and brothers still suffer from economic hardship, isolation, racism, injustice, and the horrors of war. I have left the references to the pandemic (Coronavirus 19) as originally written, but I invite you to read them in the context of all the evils we are experiencing in the world today.

The Way of the Cross is a journey we make with Jesus as a pilgrim people. By sharing in Christ’s suffering and death as Pilgrims of Hope in this Jubilee Year, we affirm our closeness to him and to all our sisters and brothers worldwide.

St. Alphonsus Liguori, who founded my religious community, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) in Italy in 1732, wrote a series of meditations on the Way of the Cross. The meditations and prayers of St. Alphonsus are a source of comfort and hope to all who read them, especially in troubled times like these. This popular version of the ancient Christian devotion to the Via Crucis, which I have adapted for our purposes today, is still used in many places throughout the world.

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