Being raised Catholic I was exposed to many devotions and given the opportunity (as a young person sometimes a bit reluctantly) to take part in them.  As I grew (notice I didn’t say matured as I am a still working on that one) I came to appreciate some of these devotions in a deeper way and my favorite became the Way of the Cross. From the time Col and I decided to make the Holy Land part of our journey, I have been eagerly anticipating the opportunity to make The Way of the Cross along the actual path our Lord took on his way to Calvary. With a Scriptural way of the Cross that I downloaded from the App Store Col and I were ready to begin our journey along the Via Dolorosa. They really do have an App for everything.

Along the Via Dolorosa each Station of the Cross is marked by circular brass plaque with a Roman numeral stamped into it to identify each station. Some of the Stations were accompanied by pictures, carved reliefs or other sacred images while some just had the Roman numeral for identification.

This first video was taken as we entered the Lions Gate which is very close to where the Via Dolorosa begins.

 

The First Station.  Jesus is Condemned to Die.

 

The Second Station.  Jesus Carries His Cross.

 

The Third Station.  Jesus Falls the First Time.

 

The Fourth Station.  Jesus Meets His Mother.

 

The Fifth Station.  Simon helps Jesus Carry His Cross.

 

The Sixth Station.  Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus.

 

The Seventh Station.  Jesus Falls the Second Time.

The Eighth Station.  Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem.

 

The Ninth Station.  Jesus Falls the Third Time.

 

The Tenth to the Fourteenth Stations did not have any brass plaques to mark them.  The Tenth was in the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher while the Eleventh to the Fourteenth were inside of the Holy Sepulcher.

The Tenth Station.  Jesus is Stripped.

 

The Eleventh Station.  Jesus is Nailed to the Cross.

 

The Twelfth Station.  Jesus Dies on the Cross.

 

The Thirteenth Station.  Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross.

 

The Fourteenth Station.  Jesus is Laid in the Tomb.

 

For those of you who are not Catholic or do not associate with the Christian belief I thank you for bearing with me.  I know this may have not been of interest to some of you, but for me it was very special and something I have dreamed about doing for a large part of my life.  I also want to thank my wife Colleen for walking each step with me and praying at all the stations together as noisy tourists were all around us.  It was an experience I will never forget.