There are 14 Stations of the Cross and it is a narration of the final hours in the life of Jesus Christ on earth. It is participatory in that we walk and pray through the stages of Jesus crucifixion from his condemnation to his being laid in the tomb. The Good Friday liturgy is the second part of the Triduum (the sacred three days). This most somber of all days is appropriately marked by fasting, abstinence, and penitence, leading us to focus on Jesus and the meaning of his cross. The bare, stark appearance of the church serves as a reminder of the solemnity and the sorrow of the day. The Lord of Life was rejected, mocked, scourged, and then put to death on the cross. The faithful are reminded of the role which their own sin played in this suffering and agony, as Christ took all sin upon himself, in obedience to his Father’s will. By the cross we are redeemed, set free from bondage to sin and death. The cross is a sign of God’s never-ending love for us. It is a sign of life, in the midst of death.