"Here is Station Eleven where Mary is suffering the most while her son is being nailed to the cross." He doesn't pause. "But maybe Jesus is not being nailed to the cross. Maybe there is crucifixions in the first century. Maybe not."
He maneuvers us smoothly through the church arches and through troops of other visitors lining up before an altar. The statues hovering above the altar have been haloed in gold leaf, crowned and clothed in sterling.Before the altar candles, the metals shine.
"Station Twelve is the exact spot where the cross is standing."
The exact spot is commemorated by a silver disk, three feet in diameter with a hole in the center. The pilgrims kneel and reach in.
"Before he dies Jesus is losing heart and is asking God why he is being forsaken."
I'm tempted to explain that Jesus is actually quoting Psalm 22, "My God, why have you forsaken me, far from my prayer, from the words of my cry?" But here on the final round of stations, it doesn't matter, and I approach the silver disk.
"Jesus dies here and the earthquake cracks open the stone where the cross is standing."
My arm goes in the silver opening to my elbow before I touch cold stone. I have the same sensation I had in the nativity cave, that the stone is oozing. Water or blood. But as I pull my hand out again, of course, it's not even damp.
"At Station Thirteen Mary is getting the body of Jesus off the cross." His loafer taps a slab of granite embedded in the floor. "At the Stone of nction, the body is washed and anointed with olive oil. It is not the real stone, of course. It is put down later."
I think I hear Rory' s sigh.
"Now go downstairs to the Holy Sepulcher where the body of Jesus is put after he is dead. At the foot of the stairs on the right is the tomb of Adam. It is not where Adam is buried, of course. But the grave of Jesus is not the same either. In his time, it is only the hollow in the ground, and
maybe there is the stone across the entrance, maybe not. But no one wants to look at only the hole, so the priests is putting a marble boulder at the mouth of the cave in 1555."
I'm certain I hear a sigh this time.
