Via Lucis - the Way of Light
Photo by Hillie Chan on Unsplash
He has risen!
Happy Easter dear friends!
A great gem from Catholic tradition, is that we celebrate an entire Easter Season spanning across 50 days from the first Easter Sunday until Pentecost. We get to keep the celebrations going and bask in the paschal joy long after the Easter eggs and bunny decorations have been shoved onto the supermarket discount shelves.
Once we’ve attended the Easter service, the holidays are over, we’ve gobbled up our chocolate eggs and have slid back into our regular routines, it can be hard to remain in the joy and hope that the Easter season offers us.
So, how can we continue to celebrate and journey into the joy this Easter season, making space for Jesus to allow us to experience resurrection right here and now?
COYYA has got you covered. Cue: Via Lucis
What is Via Lucis?
Via Lucis (the Way of Light) also known as the Stations of the Resurrection, is a spiritual practice that journeys with Christ, post-Resurrection, along a path of transforming joy.
As a kind of follow on of the “to be continued” end of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) or Stations of the Cross, Via Lucis celebrates fourteen events (stations) in the life of the risen Christ and his friends from his resurrection on Easter Sunday through to Pentecost.
Here is a rundown of the wonderful and inspiring events in Jesus’ post-Resurrection life that make up Via Lucis:
Station 1: Jesus rises from the dead (Matthew 28:5-6)
Station 2: Women find the empty tomb (Matthew 28: 1-6)
Station 3: The risen Lord appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:16)
Station 4: Mary Magdalene proclaims the Resurrection to the apostles (John 20:18)
Station 5: The risen Lord appears on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-27)
Station 6: The risen Lord is recognised in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24: 28-32)
Station 7: The risen Lord appears to the disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24: 36-39)
Station 8: The risen Lord gives the disciples the power to forgive (John 20:22-23a)
Station 9: The risen Lord strengthens the faith of Thomas (John 20: 24-29)
Station 10: The risen Lord says to Peter, “Feed my Sheep” (John 21: 15-17)
Station 11: The risen Lord sends the disciples into the whole world (Matthew 28: 16-20)
Station 12: The risen Lord ascends into heaven (Acts 1: 9-11)
Station 13: Waiting with Mary in the Upper Room (Acts 1: 12-14)
Station 14: The risen Lord sends the Holy Spirit (Acts 2: 2-4)
Where has Via Lucis come from?
The Via Lucis known and practiced today, was inspired by an ancient inscription that was discovered on a wall in the San Callisto Catacombs on the Appian Way in Rome. Its namesake comes from Saint Callistus, who was a former slave that became the 16th Pope (217-222). The ancient inscription is from 1 Corinthians 15: 3 – 8 which is a letter from St Paul to the church at Corinth that he wrote in light of news that some early Christians were denying that the Resurrection occurred.
Fast-forward to the 1990s when a Salesian Family Group supported by Salesian priest, Fr Sabino Palumbieri, formed the idea of creating a new set of stations, combining the events in the Saint Callistus inscription with other post-Resurrection events. Via Lucis was later granted formal recognition by the Vatican as a Roman Catholic devotion.
What is there to gain from Via Lucis?
Imagine, if the story just stopped at the end of the Stations of the Cross? The cruel suffering and brutal death of Jesus, his followers traumatised and disbanded. Where is the saviour that humanity has been longing for?
But the story doesn’t end there. Mere days later, out of the tomb, Jesus is risen from the dead. Darkness is overcome by the light.
Through meditating on the joyful, comforting, and triumphant events in Jesus’ post-Resurrection life, Via Lucis shows us how through Jesus, death can turn into resurrection and suffering into joy.
By invoking our whole person, body, mind and spirit, praying the Via Lucis is an opportunity to train our hearts towards joy and hope – now who doesn’t want more of that in their lives?
Why not journey into the joy with us?
So let’s give it a go!
Via Lucis is one of the exciting sessions that will be run at COYYA’s Pentecost Encounter, Saturday 4 June 2022 1pm-5:30pm at St Marys’ College 253 Franklin St, Adelaide SA 5000.
Click on this link for more information and to register: https://www.trybooking.com/BZJDX
Looking forward to seeing you there!