And Jesus turning, and seeing them following him, saith to them: What seek you?
Who said to him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?
He saith to them: Come and see.  (John 1: 38-39a)

On the grounds of l'Oratoire Saint-Joseph (Saint Joseph's Oratory) in Montreal is an outdoor Way of the Cross that features a set of truly stunning figures.  The trail itself is rather short, but one can easily spend a great deal of time before each of the massive depictions of the traditional series of steps taken by the Lord on that great day when he undertook the mighty labors which won for us our salvation.  The figures themselves are weighty with the ponderous strength of concrete and stone - larger than life not simply in terms of their height and width but even more so in terms of the sheer density of their presence.  It is good that this is so, for in what reality, other than this most substantive and true of all that one might name real, may creation itself find its very basis, its only fulfillment and its ultimate meaning?

The way of Christian discipleship has long been likened to a journey, a pilgrimage, a walking in the footsteps of the Savior who calls us to follow him.  It is both good and fitting, then, that the praying of the Way of the Cross, understood primarily as a pilgrimage of the spirit taken along the steps of discipleship, involves movement, both the physical movement of the body that walks and the prayerful stirrings of the heart in responsive contemplation.  In all truth, as we proclaim each time we celebrate Eucharist, the saving death and resurrection of the Lord is the Mystery of Faith, and it is within this mystery that the presence of the Lord abides with a particular and deeply personal intensity.  And so it is that those who would truly experience the abiding presence of Jesus Christ can do no better that to come along with him on the Way of the Cross which is the way of that great and saving mystery upon which our faith rests.

The way presented here requires but a minimum of physical movement, but it is the fruit of the physical movement of a man and a camera around a trail of silent and imposing sculptures.  Those sculptures produced a movement within him that is only imperfectly caught by the focused view provided by the camera.  Still, however, there are times when one can feel the weight of the silent touch of Mystery and one must at times attempt to communicate the nature and the meaning of that very touch.  What follows, then, is a simple way, a way more of silence than of words, a way whose silence seeks to create a space for the speaking of the one Word which truly speaks Life to those who would listen.