The People of the Way of the Cross:
Walking with Jesus through the Eyes of 14 Witnesses
Marci Alborghetti
ISBN 9781627850636
eISBN 9781627851886
ASIN B01E5QQMPQ
I stumbled upon this volume while searching for Stations of the Cross books and booklets from Twenty-Third Publications. I do not recall ever recounting the author but after reading this one a few of hers have been adding to my ‘wishlist’. But back to the volume at hand. The description of this book states:
“For centuries, Christians have followed the Way of the Cross, reflecting on the final hours of Jesus’ earthly life. But what was it really like to be there? How would it look, sound, and feel if you were part of the crowd along that narrow, walled-in pathway in first-century Jerusalem? And what if, for a moment, Jesus looked up from his cross and gazed directly at you?
In fourteen penetrating narratives, Marci Alborghetti imagines the stories behind the people who witnessed Jesus’ Way of the Cross. Some are historical, scriptural, or traditional figures, such as Pilate, Nicodemus, Veronica, and Dismas. Others are unnamed and anonymous, but equally compelling—a soldier casting lots, a child lost in the crowd, and a slave who carries a fateful hammer. Each individual encounters Jesus in a unique way. And each is profoundly changed by the experience.
Through their stories—and through the prayers, action suggestions, and reflection questions—we too have a powerful opportunity to enter into our Lord’s Passion, to connect our lives to his, and to experience for ourselves his loving, transformative gaze.”
About the author we are informed:
“Marci's 24th book "Healing Day by Day" was released in December by Bayard/Twenty-Third Publications. Her books include novels like "A Season in the South," about a woman recovering from breast cancer who shocks her family by deciding to spend a winter in Key West, and "The Christmas Glass," the story of one family's journey from a clandestine orphanage for Jewish children in northern Italy to present day America. "The Christmas Glass," available in hardcover and as an e-book, has also been translated in Norwegian and released in Norway in both hardcover and paperback. One of Marci's bestsellers, "How to Pray When You Think You Can't," has sold over 70,000 copies for Guideposts Books, also publisher of "The Christmas Glass." She is also a long-time contributor to Daily Guidepost.
Marci is currently at work on a Bible-based fiction series for Bayard/Twenty-Third Publications. Titles already released in this series include "Twelve Strong Women of GOD", "The JESUS Women," "People of the Nativity," and "Being the Body of CHRIST." "Mary's Magnificat" and "People of the Cross" will be released in the Fall of 2015.
Marci lives with Charlie Duffy, her husband and work partner, in New London, Connecticut, where she also blogs and writes essays on human rights issues like homelessness and the death penalty.”
The chapters and sections in this book are:
Introduction
One: Pontius Pilate
Two: Dismas, A Thief to Be Crucified with Jesus
Three: A Small Child
Four: A Mother Caught Up in the Crowd
Five: Simon
Six: Veronica
Seven: A Roman Soldier Accompanying Jesus
Eight: One of the Sorrowing Women
Nine: The Widow Who Put Her Last Two Coins in the Temple Treasury
Ten: A Soldier Casting Lots
Eleven: A Slave with a Hammer
Twelve: A Soldier Who Pierces Jesus’ Side
Thirteen: A Young Woman with Mary
Fourteen: A Slave of Nicodemus
I highlighted several sections while reading this book, some of them are:
“Because of this, we too are called to meet our Lord on the Way of the Cross and to each bear our own cross along with him.”
“Unbelievable! These people! Less than a week ago they were lining up to praise this Jesus, and now they scream for his blood.”
“What is truth? Pilate truly didn’t know the answer. He may have posed the question in a seemingly cynical, apparently sarcastic manner, but as an educated, upper-class Roman, it was a real question for him.”
“But Jesus was different. He was different for Pilate and he is different for us. He knows the truth. He is the Truth.”
“List all the times you “pulled a Pilate.” Select one or two and work on not repeating these actions in the coming week. Ask Jesus for help and courage in your effort.”
“radical forgiveness is often difficult for us to accept, probably because we know we could never manage to forgive so utterly.”
“The more important question for each of us is this: Can I accept and embrace God’s forgiveness right now and forevermore?”
“Perhaps one of the reasons we are so vulnerable—to both hurt and goodness—in our early years is that we are so innocent; certainly we are inexperienced in the ways of the world.”
“As with the small children he blesses in the gospels, he is looking for us to be open to him and his teachings. He wants us to be bravely curious in the Word, in the Father, and in the Holy Spirit. He seeks those who are eager to be with him, for no other reason than to be with him, just as a child hankers to be with a friend or relative she or he loves.”
“To enter peacefully and peaceably into God’s kingdom, we must acknowledge and embrace the fact that it’s God’s kingdom for a reason: God rules!”
“This is the road we must take with him—compelled, as the young mother is compelled, but not by the crowd or the drama of the moment. We are compelled by knowing what she cannot know: that Jesus is on this road for us, that Jesus is about to die for us. To show us that God is real and among us. To prove the love that he says must abide in us.”
“But Scripture makes it clear that Simon wasn’t exactly a volunteer. He must be compelled to help Jesus, forced into the service. And who among us could blame him? What decent person wants to be involved in such a situation? What kind of individual would jump at the chance to be forever after identified with someone sentenced to death by both religious and secular law? Add to those objections the fact that Simon was likely a visitor in Jerusalem, probably there for Passover, and possibly a country man who would not have been accustomed to the cacophony of urban life. He knew the power of Rome, both in his home of Cyrene (in modern Libya) and even more so in Jerusalem. He would have wanted nothing more than to keep his head down and get out of the situation.”
“In one way, helping Jesus carry the cross was a much easier decision for Simon. He really didn’t have a choice. He was forced into service. We are given a choice. We can respond to God’s call to help with the cross, or we can fall back into the comfortable shadows of our lives.”
“Only now, assigned to march Jesus to the cross, does Lucius understand what Pilate had felt. For this Jesus is all but dead, and yet there is still an indescribable strength, and to Lucius’ unbelieving eyes, almost a light exuding from his battered form.”
“We cannot imagine ourselves as cold and unresponsive as we imagine the soldiers with him must have been. We cannot imagine ourselves so, or, perhaps, we don’t like to imagine this. But as we go about our days, our lives, just trying to do our jobs and mind our own business, as Lucius and his colleagues were doing, are we so very different? Are we open to the profound, and sometimes disturbing, opportunities we are given to learn from Jesus on the Calvary road? Are we too frightened to even acknowledge such opportunities?”
“They may have no clear answer for their disappointed and bereaved sisters, yet their own faith persists. They believe without understanding.”
“But when Jesus stumbles around the corner, pitching to one side until the African steadies him, she recoils despite her intentions. He is so broken! She had seen and heard him speak just a few days ago; he’d been so vital, so intent, so strong. Today she can hardly recognize her Lord.”
“In our search for signs, we are, much like the soldier, gambling with God.”
“It’s hard for me to think about how often I hurt Jesus. Any Christian who’s spent a Good Friday afternoon or evening in church, or walked the Stations of the Cross, especially those of us who do this year after year, has a keen sense of how Jesus suffered.”
“How often does life deaden us to the reality of Jesus Christ?”
“Jesus Christ is no longer a revelation for most of us. He is a reality, and a reality that demands much of us in the midst of a world that is already demanding, it sometimes seems, too much. He demands not only that we take time from our busy-ness to attend to him and his word, but even more: that we bring him and his word into our busy-ness, that we incorporate him into our daily lives, that we, in fact, build our lives upon him, the cornerstone. He demands that we live in and for him.”
“Help me not to run when I recognize your suffering face in another, or in myself. Help me to remember that love was not crucified on the cross, but was indeed born there as surely as in a Bethlehem cave over thirty years earlier. Amen.”
“I think it may be impossible for us to fully comprehend the death of Jesus and what it meant to those who loved and followed him.”
“I think for us to truly experience Jesus, we have to spend time sitting with Mary and his family, friends, and followers in those dark hours between 3 PM on Good Friday and dawn on Easter Sunday. Obviously, we prefer not to; it’s much easier, much lovelier, to be amazed and delighted at his teachings and miracles, or overwhelmed with joy at his resurrection. But to fully live the gospels and the resurrection, we need to spend time focusing on his apparent absence.”
Each chapter follows the same format:
Title:
Who is our witness
Quote
The Reflection
The Witness and Us
Action / Prayer
Questions for Thought and Discussion
For Personal Reflection
For Group Discussion
Prayer
Each day is comprised of a number of pages. When I started this I planned on reading one a day for 2 weeks. That is not how it worked out. A few of the days I went back and read again. And a couple of times I was still thinking on the previous day and just reflected on it. For one of the days I was so moved I stopped reading and had to return to it the next day. So it took me over 3 weeks to get through the whole volume. But it was well worth it. In many ways this volume is an extended form of Lectio Divina, except the meditatio has been provided and we read and immerses ourselves in the written reflection.
The book is very well written. Before I had finished it I started looking up other volumes from the author. And as mentioned several have been added to my wish list. This was a deeply moving book. We are drawn into so many deeper experiences of the stations or the via. The characters we encounter, and how we can find ourselves in them or in the scenes is masterfully crafted.
This is an excellent volume, I can easily state no Catholic, and maybe even no Christian could read this and come away unchanged. It is a great resource for spiritual growth!
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan! For all reviews of books from Twenty-Third Publications click here.
Books by Marci Alborghetti:
12 Strong Women of God: Biblical Models for Today
A Season in the South
A Willing Heart: How to Serve When You Think You Can't
Being the Body of Christ: What the People of the Passion Teach Us About Jesus Today
But to Serve, Changing Lives One at a Time
Come and Listen: The Many Voices of Lent
Creation to Salvation, a Family Walk Through Lent
Daily Meditations on God's Love
Freedom from Fear: Overcoming Anxiety Through Faith
Healing Day by Day: Scripture, Reflections, Practices and Prayers
Images of God: Encountering the Divine Presence through Visionary Prayer
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christ's Mass
My Daily Spiritual Companion
My Spirit Rejoices: Imagining and Praying the Magnificat with Mary
People of God's Mercy: What 14 figures from Scripture Reveal about Divine Compassion
People of the Nativity: Living the Christmas Story Then and Now
Prayer Power: How to Pray When You Think You Can't
Rejoicing with the Prophets
Sunny's Story: How to Save a Young Life
The American Prayer Book
The Christmas Glass
The Jesus Women
The Miracle of the Myrrh
Waiting with Hopeful Hearts: Advent 2005
When Lightning Strikes Twice
…
