"Oración del Vía Crucis, San Juan 1763"

 The banner was hung in the San Antonio Mennonite Church beginning on Palm Sunday. You can view the banner and walk the Stations of the Cross until May 16. Please text Dianne Garcia, if you you have difficulty getting in. Here are some images of the banner and the Stations of the Cross.

  XIV The fever took my child from me I buried her beneath a tree They laid your bones inside a borrowed grave Where hesitating hope stands silently   At the fourteenth Station of the Cross Jesus is laid in the tomb. The Gospel writers recorded the event like this: “Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb” (Matthew 27: 59-61). “So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid” (Mark 15:46-47). “Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid...

  XIII The doors are opened quietly I feel the stones beneath my knee Those who remained took all that they could save This praying gives tranquility   At the thirteenth Station of the Cross Jesus’ body is taken down from the cross. The Gospel writers remembered the event like this: “As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth…” (Matthew 27:59-61). “It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned fro...

  XII Daylight fades, the hour is late I leave the fields and close the gate The dark stole day and held you to the tree Wrapped in darkness there we wait   At the twelfth Station of the Cross Jesus dies on the cross.   Listen to the ways the gospel writers record the last breath of Jesus on the cross. “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.   They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.   When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’” ( Matthew 27:50-54). “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last....