Book Reviews and More: The Way of the Cross According to Matthew- Father Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S.

Tuesday 27 June 2023

The Way of the Cross According to Matthew- Father Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S.

The Way of the Cross According to Matthew

Father Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S.

Emmanuel Publishing

During Lent in 2022 our parish did On the Way of the Cross with Saint Paul by Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S. and it was excellent. During research I found that Father LaVerdiere also wrote this Station and also ones according to each of the other Gospels. I was able to order 1 copy of each from Emmanuel Publishing. This was the third I have done and they are excellent. I try and pray a Stations each Friday of the year, and I strive to pray a Stations each day during Lent. The stations written by Father Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S., are:

On the Way of the Cross with Saint Paul

The Way of the Cross According to Matthew

The Way of the Cross According to Mark

The Way of the Cross According to Luke

The Way of the Cross According to John

I do not recount encountering the works of Father Eugene prior to that first Stations. But having look at the list of volumes he published I have added several to my wish list. I discovered that Father Eugene LaVerdiere, SSS, was a distinguished lecturer at Fordham University in New York and an adjunct professor at the Catholic Theological Union. He published numerous books and articles, he published works on Scripture on Luke from the New Testament Message series, The Eucharist in the New Testament and the Early Church, and The Beginning of the Gospel: Introducing the Gospel According to Mark Volumes 1 and 2. He was also the senior editor of Emmanuel magazine. The publishing company that produces this and the other Stations composed by him. The description of this volume is:

“Matthew’s Gospel is the story of Jesus, a shepherd for God’s people of Israel (2:6), whose name brought hope to the Gentiles (12:21). Matthew’s community, still close to its Jewish origins, had to choose between the synagogue, the people from whom they came, and the Church, the people now formed in Christ. Together in Matthew’s Way of the Cross we follow Jesus and his followers to Jerusalem and Golgotha, the Place of the Skull.”

A sample station is:

“Third Station

Leader:

Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time

Cross bearer:

We adore you, 0 Christ, and we praise you.

All:

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

You may be seated.

Leader:

Jesus fell at Gethsemane, with Peter, the rock on whom he would build his church (16:18), asleep as Jesus prayed, unable to keep watch for one hour on this last night of Jesus' life. The Son of Man was about to be handed over to sinners, but Peter slept, even as the betrayer approached (26:36-46).

Herod:

We had nothing to fear after all! But the day the magi brought news of a newborn king of the Jews and word of it raced through Jerusalem, it was no light matter (2:1-3). I did what was needed to keep order (2:7-8, 16). These days, you never know where news like that will lead. But nothing came of it.

A Scribe in Jerusalem::

Who were these magi to tell us about our newborn king? What was this star of which they spoke? When Herod asked where the Messiah would be born, we told him. We knew from the Scriptures he was to be born in Bethlehem. Thank God we did not follow his star! Look where it brought him and Simon bar Jonah.

Leader:

The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light;

All:

on those dwelling in a land of death light has arisen. - Matthew 4:16; see Isaiah 9:1

Please stand.

Leader:

Let us pray.

All:

Christ Jesus,

when Peter fell, you fell.

Peter and the disciples followed you

as you showed the way.

When they stumbled and fell,

you did not leave them behind.

Though we fall over and over,

do not abandon us.

For this we pray to you, our Lord and Savior,

living and reigning for ever and ever.

Amen."

I hope that sample station give you a feel for this version of this devotion. This is another excellent stations of the cross. I loved praying in on my own and would greatly enjoy doing it at church with a few different people playing the different roles. It was a great tool to pray and reflect upon it on my own. I look forward to reading the other stations by Father Eugene and some of his other books. I know I will return to these stations often. I just wish this and other volumes were available electronically, with my dual form of dyslexia I prefer eBooks so I can change the font, font and page colour to make books more accessible and easier to read.

This is another great resource for personal, family, or parish use. It is an excellent version of this devotion, I can easily recommend this volume.