MACAU (UCAN): The Macau Catholic Laity Association launched a virtual video-based Way of the Cross for the first time, saying it could encourage deeper reflection on Jesus’ passion and death during the Lenten season. The association said that from March 14, it plans to release the online prayer every Friday, in a series of stages, according to Macau’s Catholic weekly, Jornal-O-Clarim.
“We’re going to make the video alluding to the first station of the Way of the Cross available this Friday, and the second station next week,” Jenny Lao Phillips, an official with the laity association, said.
“We’ll publish a new video every Friday. On Good Friday, we’re going to broadcast the entire Way of the Cross for all those who can’t participate in the initiative in person,” Phillips added.
The last installment of the video series will be published on April 18, Good Friday.
Bishop Stephen Lee Bun Sang of Macau is slated to attend the event.
The association has been organising the physical Way of the Cross—renamed “Stations of the Cross for Modern Man”—for the last two decades at Guia Hill in central Macau.
Guia hill was “chosen because it is an open-air space, with a route that involves some difficulty and areas where we can stop for each of the five stations of the Way of the Cross that we have selected,” Phillips explained.
She also pointed out that the “Stations of the Cross for Modern Man,” was aimed at encouraging participants to reflect on contemporary daily issues.
“At each of the stations, we will reflect on the steps of the Passion of Jesus Christ, using a biblical passage as a starting point, but also an analysis of the suffering to which modern man is subjected,” Phillips emphasized, including reflections on daily life including “global issues, social challenges or questions of a personal nature.”
She said that the event differs from the other Stations of the Cross in Macau because it takes place outdoors, just like the original Way of the Cross.
“We have invited the participants to carry a life-size cross so that they can feel the weight of the cross that Jesus carried for the remission of our sins,” Phillips said.
