CEBU, Philippines - When I arrived here in the Queen City of the South, going to Banawa Hills every Lenten Season to meditate on the Way of the Cross has been one of my most awaited times of the year. It’s not only because of the breathtaking landscape but mostly because of how the Passion of Jesus was depicted in the life-sized sculptures.
This popular devotion of the Stations of the Cross or Way of the Cross (in Latin, Via Crucis; also called the Via Dolorosa or Way of Sorrows) depicts the final hours of Jesus and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St. Francis of Assisi and extended throughout the Roman Catholic Church in the Medieval period. This was developed during the crusades when the knights and pilgrims began to follow the route of Christ’s way to Calvary. Eventually, the Stations of the Cross became an important catechetical tool, and the popularity of this devotion inspired some of the greatest examples of Medieval Christian art. Some scholars believe that Medieval miracle plays, which were essentially tableaux of Christ’s life, developed from the sculptured representations of the Stations of the Cross in the great Churches. These scenes from the Way of the Cross have provided inspiration for many of the world’s greatest works of visual art. And the object of the Stations is to help the faithful make a spiritual pilgrimage of prayer, through meditating upon the chief scenes of Christ’s sufferings and death.
These Way of the Cross are composed of 14 Stations, namely: 1st – Jesus is condemned to Death, 2nd – Jesus is made to bear His Cross, 3rd – Jesus falls the first time under His Cross, 4th – Jesus meets His Mother, 5th – Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His Cross, 6th – Veronica wipes the face of Jesus, 7th – Jesus falls the second time, 8th – Jesus speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem, 9th – Jesus falls the third time, 10th – Jesus is stripped of His garments, 11th – Jesus is nailed to the Cross, 12th – Jesus dies on the Cross, 13th – Jesus is taken down from the Cross, and 14th – Jesus is buried in the sepulcher.
Thus, this popular devotion keeps the faith of the people alive. The visual representations, combined with the prayers and meditations, help to deepen our understanding of the Way of the Cross, which will be of great spiritual benefit for all Catholics of all ages. And Celestial Gardens in Banawa Hills can really draw one into prayer. Going there helps one’s spirit to be in the disposition of God and thus the simple praying of the Stations of the Cross becomes an Act of Reparation, “a sort of compensation to be rendered for the injury” with respect to the sufferings of Jesus as Pope Pius XI stated in his encyclical letter, Miserentissimus Redemptor.
Try to go there and see for yourself how beautiful and worth contemplating the place is. And thanks to the owner for sharing it with the public.