Another Way of The Cross: Journeying Back With Mary

I was given this text - "A Special Way of The Cross - Journeying Back With Our Lady" by my brother some 7 or 8 years ago. I thought I'd lost it. Then, inexplicably, while searching for something else, it literally fell into my lap! I thought, maybe, for Lent this year, I would post it here, one station a day, beginning today, with the Introduction and Opening Prayer. Why one station a day? Simply! For a change. To slow down. Take time out. To ponder. Meditate. Pray. Any of the above reasons are good enough I would think. So, here it is the Beginning ... or The End, whichever way you see it!:

Introduction/The End

When a funeral is over, people linger on in silence, sitting quietly by the side of the mourning relatives, sharing their memories of the dead person. Some such thing must have happened on Holy Saturday, after the burial of Jesus. John, the beloved disciple, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and the pious women must have sat around Mary, the mother of Jesus and shared intimate experiences of the Passion.

We too, shall stay with our Mother Mary, and relive the Passion of her Son with her. Our journey will begin on Calvary. In all other Ways of the Cross, Calvary comes at the end; today Calvary marks the beginning of a new journey, which winds its way through the pains and struggles of our human existence.

We will come down along the same way we went up; and we will accompany Mary as she comes down. We shall listen to her as she tells us about her son's passion. As Mary walks back home and as she comes upon each important place, her thoughts go back to what happened there a few hours ago.

Prayer

Mary our Mother, we wish to keep you company as you wind your lonely way back home from Calvary. We wish, like John, the beloved disciple, to remain close to you and listen to your words. We wish to enter your heart and to taste the bitterness and pain of a tender Mother who has just lost her Son, her only son, her most dear son. Which mother could have witnessed as you witnessed the cruel murder of her precious son and still survived in hope? Which woman could have drunk the cup of suffering to the bitter dregs and still remain in peace? And now, as you walk down the road from Calvary, with your strength gone, your legs giving way, your eyes smarting with tears, we come to you Mother. And we enter your pierced heart, sharing your thoughts, feeling your hurts, walking your steps. Be with us on the Way.