The “Way of the Cross: Toward Justice and Peace” stations are truly unique and powerful. Click here for the accompanying materials for the “Way of the Cross: Toward Justice and Peace” stations.

Through the Stations of the Cross, we spiritually follow in the footsteps of Jesus. He suffered for the sins of the world. Today, Christ’s suffering continues through the cries of the thousands of men, women, and children who are abandoned and abused, ill, and without homes … especially in this time of the virus. God enacts the ultimate preferential option with the poor through this experience of the cross.

Throughout history, women and men have followed the path of Jesus. Many died young; some after years of being witnesses of God’s love. The “Way of the Cross: Toward Justice and Peace” follows the final journey of Jesus and highlights 14 of those who walked in his footprints. These saintly people, from many walks of life, reveal to us that the power of faith can overcome death and lead us to resurrection. Below are two of the 14 remarkable people.

Thomas More

Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII, was one of the outstanding lay people of his time. In 1534 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London because he refused to give absolute allegiance to the king, giving his absolute allegiance to Christ instead. Thomas was tried, convicted of treason, and beheaded after fifteen months in prison. His letters from prison reflect his view that a believing Christian must be an active Christian.

“O Lord, give us the grace to read or hear the Gospel of your bitter passion not with our eyes or our ears in the manner of a past time, but that it may so sink into our hearts that it stretches to the everlasting profit of our souls… Though faith is the first gate into heaven, the person who stands at the gate and does not step forward in the way of good works will not enter into where the reward is.”

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, the patroness of France, was an illiterate peasant teenager who led French troops against English forces in 1430. She was taken prisoner and held in jail for about a year. Joan was tried as a heretic, sentenced to death, excommunicated, and at the age of nineteen, she was burned at the stake. At her trial she defended her faith.

“All my words and deeds are in the hands of God. With regard to them I bow to Him. And I swear to you that I do not want to do anything contrary to the Christian faith, and if I have done or said anything… I do not want to defend it, but will repudiate it. If I am condemned – and I see the fire, the wood made ready, and the scaffold – and when I am in the fire, I shall not say differently from what I have already said.”