Bulletin Reflection for the 4th Sunday of Lent - St Jude Catholic Church of Pearl Mississippi - John 3:13-21

       We hear Jesus tell Nicodemus in today’s Gospel, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”  This is  John 3:16, a very famous verse from the Bible. It is one of the most quoted verses from the Gospels. In fact, Tim Tebow wore eye black in 2009 with “John 3:16” printed on it when he led the University of Florida football team to the national championship.  John 3:16 is certainly a very famous Bible verse that very succinctly sums up the message of Christianity.  

        We remember Nicodemus when we pray the stations of the cross, as the 14th station of the cross recounts Jesus being laid in the tomb.  In the 19th chapter of John’s Gospel, it states that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus give Christ a dignified burial as they lay him in the tomb. With myrrh and aloe according to Jewish tradition, they clean his body and prepare it for burial.  They place his body in the garden tomb as the darkness of night approaches.  Joseph and Nicodemus then head back to their community in order to observe the Jewish Sabbath. 

         It is important that we remember Nicodemus and the others that had roles in Christ’s passion and in his journey to the cross. They are important witness of faith from the Early Church.  The stations of the cross are a very important Lenten devotion we have in our Catholic faith.  It is such a joy to have the outdoor stations of the cross in place at St Jude, especially in the midst of the pandemic.  

         Several people have asked me about the outdoor stations that we have, inquiring about their origin and the craftsman who made them.  We received a bequest from a family outside of the St Jude parish when the matriarch of the family passed away. We are very grateful for the generosity of this family.  The family requested that some type of statues be purchased by our parish with these funds.  That is where we had decided on the stations of the cross. In fact, our parish staff and other parishioners have mentioned from time to time how beautiful outdoor stations would be for our parish campus.   After some research, we found a family in Bloomfield, Indiana who has a business called Wayside Shrines. They got the idea of making shrines that they have in many countries of Europe after being stationed over there in the military.  Our new stations of the cross at St Jude are made from Cypress wood.  This is how they describe the process of making the stations on the Wayside Shrines website: “Our shrines are carefully crafted in our workshop in rural Indiana, making each shrine unique.  Carvings are our own computer generated designs, which are cut with a CNC router and various powered carving tools followed by hand carving and finishing. All of our shrines are designed to be richly traditional.”

     Just as we are grateful for the witnesses of faith we have from the early group of disciples, we are  also very grateful to have these new outdoor stations of the cross at St Jude to enhance our parish campus and to use on our Lenten journey.