Book Reviews and More: The Way of the Cross According to John

Wednesday, 23 April 2025

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

The Way of the Cross According to John

Father Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S.

Emmanuel Publishing

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

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 fourth I have done, and we did it at church during the Second Friday of Lent 2025. These are excellent volumes. 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:

“John’s Way of the Cross echoes the passion account proclaimed each year in the liturgy of Good Friday. John wrote for a community at grips with the most basic issues of life and meaning. Then as now, the answer was in the person of Jesus. And so we turn to John for this Way of the Cross, following Jesus as he is raised up and draws all peoples to himself.”

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 himself did not fall, least of all in the Passion

according to John. In John's Gospel Jesus is Lord from the

beginning (18:3-8). But Jesus did fall in the person of his

disciples. When he spoke of his flesh as true food and his

blood as true drink (6:55-56), many of his disciples left

him and returned to their previous way of life (6:66).

A Young Boy:

I was there on the mountainside when he broke the

bread for the five thousand. Jesus asked where they might

buy bread for the crowd to eat, and Philip pointed to the

futility of it all. Even two hundred denarii would not

buy enough bread for such a crowd. Andrew noticed I

had five barley loaves and two fish. I offered the bread. It

became bread from heaven (6:1-11).

The Lord Jesus:

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never

hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst

(6:35,48). No one can come to me unless drawn by the

Father. those who come to me I will raise on the last day

(6:44). The bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the

world (6:51).

Leader: Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,

and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.

All: The bread of God comes down from heaven

and gives life to the world.

John 6:37, 33

(Please stand.)

Leader: Let us pray.

All:

Christ Jesus,

you said, "I came down from heaven not to do my own will

but the will of the one who sent me" (6:29).

We thank you, Lord,

and we bless you.

We want to work not for food that perishes

but for the food that endures for eternal life,

the food you alone can give.

For this we praise you, our Lord and Savior,

living and reigning for ever and ever.

Amen.”

I hope that sample station gives you a feel for this version of this devotion. This is another excellent stations of the cross. I loved praying it at church in community and know I will pray it on my own often. It was a great tool to pray and reflect upon it on my own. I have read all the stations by Father Eugene and look forward to reading 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.