Walking with Jesus along the Via Dolorosa – A Prayer Resource for Lent and Holy Week

Use this during Holy Week

This resource can also be used during Holy Week (Monday–Friday) as a series of five short daily reflections.

Each day can be prayed:

• after morning or evening Mass
• or as a short parish gathering
  
  

Little preparation is required — simply invite people to stay and pray.

A flexible prayer resource for Lent or Holy Week

This Lenten Prayer resource consists of five weekly reflections 'Walking with Jesus along the Via Dolorosa' written by the Living Church Team, Diocese of Down and Connor and shared with other dioceses. 

Each reflection includes:

• Opening Words of Welcome & Opening Prayer
• A Gospel reading
• Time of Silence/reflective Music
• Reflection
• A decade of the Scriptural Rosary (each Hail Mary preceded by a line of scripture)
• Lenten Mission - Encouraging further prayer at home
• Closing Prayer
  
  

The Via Dolorosa Leaders Prayer Guide

The full resource can be downloaded and printed for parish use. A limited number of printed Leader's Prayer Guides are available — email to request a copy. 

Download prayer leaflets (use daily during Holy Week or weekly during Lent)

Using this prayer resource in Lent or Holy Week

- a Leaders prayer guide for five weeks; and
- five leaflets for parishioners to follow each week.

This resource can also be used during Holy Week (Monday–Friday) as a series of short daily reflections.

It has been designed to be used in a variety of ways;
- for your parish to pre-record or live broadcast over your Parish Webcam or Social Media Platform each week of Lent or each day during Holy Week. If this liturgy is broadcast, the collaboration of clergy, lay readers and music ministry will add to the richness of the experience and allow those viewing at home to connect with the wider Parish Community.

- the associated participants' leaflets for parishioners can be distributed for use in their own homes. This will allow people to read the Gospel at home and engage with the Lenten Mission during the course of the week in a time of private prayer. Posting or emailing this resource to those who are housebound will be a good outreach.

- The content of these leaflets can be shared on your parish social media channels. People have become more adept in accessing social media, and as an evangelising people we ought to ensure that the message of Christ is proclaimed in all the spheres in which we are active.

What is the Via Dolorosa? 

'Via Dolorosa' is Latin for "Sorrowful Way".
It is commonly translated as "Way of Suffering".

It is traditionally believed to be the route taken by Jesus as he carried the cross towards Calvary.
The pilgrims begin in the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane and walk through the Lions' gate, which marks the entry into the old city of Jerusalem.

Pilgrims follow the winding path from the Antonia Fortress, believed to have been the place where Jesus was brought before Pilate, and stop at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place where it is believed that Jesus was crucified.

It is a distance of about 600 metres.