Pilgrim Blog 28 - Stations of the Cross

Waiting to get through the security checkpoint ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023

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Since Pope Francis’ arrival on Thursday, every major venue we go to from now on, requires us to go through a security checkpoint before entering the major venue.

Pope Francis being wheeled on stage ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023

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Here’s our sightscreen view of Pope Francis’ arrival on stage, which marked the beginning of the Way of the Cross. Another name for this is Stations of the Cross. These 14 stations mark the journey of Jesus from being sentenced to death on the Cross, to His burial in the tomb. Sometimes a 15th Station of the Resurrection is added. With the traditional Way of the Cross, three falls along the path to Calvary are marked, at the 3rd, 7th and 9th Stations. After each fall, Jesus gets up again and continues to the top of the hill of Calvary.
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At each Station there is usually a meditation on what happened at that Station, some expected response from those gathered, for example an Our Father a.k.a. the Lord’s Prayer, and, when prayed in public, usually a stanza from the Stabat Mater, either said or sung, in between each Station. The Stabat Mater is a 13th century poem about the sorrows of Mary, mother of Jesus, at the Cross of her Son.

View of the street behind us ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023

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To return to our hotel, we go down this street and take the first right hand turn. You can see from this photo just how full this side street is of pilgrims. This street is perpendicular to Edward VII Park, which looks like a long-sided rectangle from above. showing the third testimony of faith

Sightscreen showing the third testimony of faith ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023

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After each of the three Stations that mark a fall of Jesus on his way to crucifixion, there was a personal testimony from a pilgrim. The person in the photo gave the third testimony after the 9th Station of the Cross.

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My reflection upon the Way of the Cross at WYD:

The Way of the Cross yesterday was certainly not what I was expecting.

It was interpretive breakdancing upon the whole of the altar-stage in Eduardo VII Park. Lisbon of course being a home of breakdancing.
 
Radios were made virtually redundant by how loud the speakers made the announcements of the Stations, coupled with how the orchestra blended into those same announcements. Irrespective of language, the volume all but drowned out any radio translation, with or without headphones.
 
Although we had a good position next to the Marquês de Pombal Monument, we were behind two sets of loudspeaker arrays. Hardly the best position for receiving clear audio.
 
The Vatican's Facebook page was doing a Facebook LIVE video feed, but this was comparatively more delayed than what was being shown on the large sight screens.
 
For example, we could see the Cross (when it wasn't obscured by a tree) being moved across the WYD stage in the distance before the video feed we’d got showed them starting to move it.
 
O the joys, and pains, of long-distance telecommunications. Continue to pray for all those who are constantly working to keep these things up and running so that we can see anything, delayed or not.
 
In the end, for our Australian group at least, we ended up using guess work and a Stations of the Cross card to try and figure out where we were up to when we couldn't hear the Station number.
 
But we could tell when Jesus fell under the Cross three times. There were short, pre-recorded video testimonials of faith and turning back in openness to our Heavenly Father. Thankfully all of them were subtitled, even the last one which was by an American Catholic (USA).

At the end of each testimonial the video feed cut to show each person sitting in the crowd, up close to the stage. All of them were caught by surprise when they saw themselves on the big screens.
 
In the midst of all this whirling soundscape of orchestra, dance beats, and Station intentions being read out in multiple different languages, there was a moment to just look around you and truly take in just how massive this all is.

The street behind us was filled up back across two, if not three, street intersections.
 
St John Paul II was right in saying that WYD is not so much saying that the church is for young people as telling, and showing, them, "You are not alone."
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From memory, the experience of the Stations of the Cross at WYD Sydney in 2008 was good if you were in front of the stage or watching it on television. But the experience was very similar to mine if you didn’t have the combination of a good view of the sight screen and good audio.

Phone camera digital 'zoom-in' (i.e., crop) of the Cross being moved in real time ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023

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Look for a sightscreen shape, on the right-hand side near the tree line, then look for the long part of the Cross at a 45 degree angle with blue sky on both sides of it. The horizontal beam of the Cross is barely visible behind the screen logo. The close-up camera angles were probably wonderfully dramatic for those watching at home, but they made what was going on near incomprehensible to us.

View of Eduardo VII Park after the Stations of the Cross were over, showing the remaining crowd of pilgrims ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023

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There were still a lot of people milling around, possibly waiting for a clearer path to wherever they were off to next. Some would have gone looking for dinner, some would have gone back to their hotels for a rest, and quite a lot of them went to a big ecumenical concert at a stadium where Matt Maher – the Canadian musician-composer – was performing his music, and at which Bishop Barron – founder of Word on Fire, Catholic media organisation – was due to speak.

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Vincent Cavanagh   #bbwyd
#wydlisbon   #wyd2023   #lisboa2023
5 Aug 2023, 11.23am Portugal | 5 Aug 2023, 6.23pm Sydney

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