Stations on the First Friday of Lent

I rushed home from work on Friday to pick up my grandmother to attend Mass and the Stations of the Cross.

Wow! The Church was packed! There were about 500 people who showed up for the Stations and Mass. In contrast, our normal daily Mass on Fridays only usually attract about 50-60 people. Not many parishes can boast of such a daily Mass attendance, not to mention the numbers we had for the Stations.

Father himself expressed surprise at the turnout. Of course he just transferred in and this was his first Lent with us. The attendance at the Stations during Lent is always good and this is a good sign that people are taking the Lenten requirements of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving seriously. After the evening Ash Wednesday Mass, which was also packed, I saw many parishioners at the vegetarian restaurants when I was having dinner there. Hopefully this resolve can be maintained throughout the season of Lent.

There were several hiccups during the Staions, such as the lack of books for people to follow the prayers and the songs. Our parish published new books of the stations which came just as we were about to finish the 7th station. Another complaint was that the stations were done in English, Mandarin and Tamil so I was only able to follow a third of it. On the up side though, the 'Stabat Mater' was used instead of the soppy songs that we used to have last time in the old books.

Anyway, I just wanted to highlight this great turnout.

I also just made arrangements to borrow a heavy wooden cross for our own Stations and Lenten retreat which should happen some time before Good Friday.

The cross is extremely heavy. I find it difficult to carry it even for a few stations. After carrying it, I can understand why the Lord Jesus fell so many times. Even with a half-sized cross and without the beatings, scourging and lack of food and water, I could not do it. Truly walking the stations makes up appreciate the sacrifice of the Saviour more and more.

Praise Jesus for walking the Way of the Cross for us.