A Family Way of the Cross in the Sun

Last Sunday we met at Osmotherley in North Yorkshire for our Lenten Way of the Cross for families.
The origins of the Lady Chapel there are not known. A licence for Mass to be celebrated regularly in the chapel was granted in 1397 and it was given to the monks of the Carthusian Order in 1398.
After the monks came, the chapel was also used as a hermitage.
Anticipating the Reformation, the Lady Chapel had been leased to relatives of the Prior and so remained untouched unlike  Mount Grace Priory. The Carthusians were re-established during the reign of Queen Mary. The chapel gradually became a popular pilgrimage centre.
On the 7^th September 1614, the eve of the Feast of Our Lady’s Birthday, a group of 17 Catholics were arrested for praying in the chapel.
By 1642 the chapel had fallen into a state of disrepair.
Today it is once again a place of pilgrimage and looked after by the monks at Ampleforth. You can read a fuller history at www.ladychapel.org.uk

We were blessed with a glorious sunny day. We walked from Station to Station reading prayers and the children showing their art work at each one. At each station, also, a child took a symbol from our 'Way of the Cross' Box to carry the rest of the way e.g. rope to represent Jesus hands being tied at Station One; a rosary to represent Jesus meeting his mother at Station Four, a large nail for Station Ten and so on. In the Chapel these were lovingly placed back in the box before we prayed our JPII's Prayer for Families and our Daily Prayer of Consecration.
We sang the Salve Regina and then enjoyed tea and sweet treats on the lawn beside the chapel.
If you haven't walked the Way of the Cross yet this Lent why not arrange to do so in a church or up a hill? If you are unable to walk, there are Stations of the Cross online at
http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/stations/face.htm
Many thanks to Paul for these photos as mine were lost in the upload.

Way of the Cross

Praying the Stations of the Cross—alone or with a group—is a Lenten tradition.  Imagine the scene in Jerusalem as Jesus walked his Way of the Cross. Often, the Stations of the Cross is an action prayer. Catholics walk to the fourteen stations of the Way of the Cross and stop to pray at each one. The stations can be displayed outside but are usually found inside churches

A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful, who make the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross

The gaining of the plenary indulgence is regulated by the following norms:

1. The pious exercise must be made before stations of the Way of the Cross legitimately erected.
2. For the erection of the Way of the Cross fourteen crosses are required, to which it is customary to add fourteen pictures or images, which represent the stations of Jerusalem.
3. According to the more common practice, the pious exercise consists of fourteen pious readings, to which some vocal prayers are added. However, nothing more is required than a pious meditation on the Passion and Death of the Lord, which need not be a particular consideration of the individual mysteries of the stations.
4. A movement from one station to the next is required.

In addition the usual sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Sovereign Pontiff.

More on the Real Easter Egg

Now that we are in Lent organised shoppers might turn their thoughts to Easter Eggs! See my post on 24th January and make them Real ones if you can.
In the UK these are available at Morrisons, the Coop and Waitrose but not Asda, M&S, Sainsbury's, Tesco or John Lewis. Also availble online but you have to pay postage.
www.realeasteregg.co.uk