We may be a week past Easter Sunday, but we are still in the Easter season. Since I haven’t mentioned them in a couple of years, I thought this would be a good time to suggest praying the Way of the Light. Although most Catholics are familiar with the Stations of the Cross, a popular Lenten devotion that follows the course of Jesus’ passion and death, fewer are familiar with the Way of the Light, the Stations of the Resurrection.
As I wrote once before, these Stations were inspired by an ancient inscription found on a wall of the San Callisto Catacombs on the Appian Way in Rome. The stations combine the events mentioned in the Saint Callistus inscription with other post-Resurrection events to create 14 stations, thus paralleling the Stations of the Cross. They emphasize the hopeful aspect of the Christian story and can serve to deepen our appreciation of this Easter season.
Here are the fourteen. My suggestion would be to take one each day, perhaps reflecting on the scriptural passage associated with the event, a number of which I include below. You can also find version of these stations online (e.g. here).
1. Jesus Rises from the Dead
2. The Disciples Find the Empty Tomb (Luke 24:12)
3. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18)
4. Jesus Walks with the Dsiciples to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-26)
5. Jesus Reveals Himself in the Breaking of the Bread (Luke 24:27-32)
6. Jesus Appears to His Discipes (John 20:19-20)
7. Jesus Confers on His Disciples the Power to Forgive Sins (John 20:23)
8. Jesus Confirms Thomas in Faith (John 20:24-29)
9. Jesus Appears to His Disciples on the Shore of Lake Galilee (John 21:1-14)
10. Jesus Confers Primacy on Peter (John 21:15-19)
11. Jesus Entrusts His Disciples with a Universal Mission (Matthew 28:16-20)
12. Jesus Ascends into Heaven (Acts 1:6-12)
13. Mary and the Disciples Await the Coming of the Spirit (Acts 1:13-14)
14. Jesus Sends the Spirit Promised by the Father to his Disciples (Acts 2:1-3)
Creo en Dios! 