by Mary Pezzulo
Reviewed by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D.
Recently I was on retreat at St. Mary of the LakeSeminary in Mundelein, Illinois. I prayed the stations outside during the pandemic so there was something mystical about the experience as I could hear the sounds of the Universe as I prayed: the wind, the sunshine, the smell of the earth were part of the experience. So too, for the writer of this book: she went on the walking Way of the Cross. This book contains the meditations of things that went through the authors head during those walks, two every week until Easter. The author saw that the story of Christ’s passion was so often related in formal, stuffy language that made it seem irrelevant to people’s day to day life. People hadn’t thought about how Christ came to take up their cross and carry it to Calvary, because no one had pointed it out to them.
The author states that in offering her meditation to the reader she will inspire people to remember that Christ walked that terrible road for them and with them, in their own lives and their own sufferings. The Way of the Cross is a sorrowful prayer but also a joyful one, because of the Resurrection. In Pezzulo’s meditation on the second station, she states:” There is nowhere that you can go, where He has not been. There is no suffering that can befall you, which He will not suffer with you. You will find Him in poverty. You will find Him in slavery. He is present in war, in sickness, in despair. If anyone abuses you, they abuse Christ. If anyone abandons you, they abandon Christ. If they rape you or murder you, they do the same to Him. Somehow, someday, all will be made well, through the mercy of God. He will wipe every tear from our eyes on that day. But first come Good Friday and the Cross. First, the terrible Mystery: that whenever we cry tears, our God cries with us. And whenever we are broken, Christ is broken with us. And whenever our burdens are too heavy to bear, the Lover of Mankind is there, in the overwhelm, overwhelmed, suffering as we suffer. The wedding feast of the Lamb has begun. Go and give everything you have to Him. Let Him carry it to Golgotha with you.”
This is a book you will want during this time as it is both a struggle to live what she states but also a sense of joy as we realize the Resurrection is coming.