It rained at 3 p.m. yesterday as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and about 150 others, mostly members of the Italian-founded Communion and Liberation group, gathered to begin a "Way of the Cross" journey at the Wellington Monument in the Phoenix Park.
The Archbishop spoke of "Way of the Cross" traditions in other cultures which helped "let the mystery of the Cross come deeper and deeper into our lives".
An organiser suggested they walk in silence to counteract "the noise and confusion of our city".
The procession followed a simple black cross held aloft. Joggers ran past, and maintenance men drove heavy rollers over immaculate polo grounds. Dublin City Tour buses passed by on the noisy road alongside.
The first station was under a budding chestnut tree where the choir sang Crux Fidelis. St Luke's account of the arrest of Jesus was read. There was the first of many reflections by Charles Pèguy.
The Archbishop said many were untouched by the Cross of Jesus, or had no interest.
"We raise the Cross to change the entire city and prompt people to ask the question, 'who is Jesus'?" he said.
Today's "cerebral and rational world" found mystery hard to understand, but it was their purpose as Christians "to bring the message of Jesus more and more into the heart of our city, and as he taught it, not as we would like it to be".
They sang the Stabet Mater.Young families were leaving the Zoo nearby. En route to the next station, a group of young soccer players stopped as the devout passed, before resuming again.
The Gospel reading was about the condemnation of Jesus. Archbishop Martin wondered why it was the Cross had become a symbol of harsh judgement rather than mercy.
"We the children of the Cross bring mercy, not condemnation, to the world," he said.
At the fourth station he remarked that "Jesus's body is not the object of a graphic film. For us it is a reality."
Curious passers-by slowed their cars for a look. Some stopped. Some joined in.
That station was at a big bare tree opposite Áras an Uachtarán. The focus was on Jesus's meeting with his mother.
"Mary is presented in the Gospels as the one who was always faithful," Archbishop Martin said. In art and literature she was presented as weeping as her son dies. Yet she was "a strong woman, strong in her faith, stronger than most of the men around Jesus..."
A mother and her Down's syndrome son got out of a car and joined the procession. She drew the boy back as he tried to get nearer the archbishop.
The fifth station was at the Papal Cross. Deer lay sleeping on the great acres below, Two boys repeatedly slid down the wet grass of the steep incline."Tsk, tsk," went a woman.
"My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" quoted Archbishop Martin. Those words of Jesus were so strong they were left out of some Gospels, he said. But Jesus remained faithful, even unto death on the Cross, so he could save us.
He concluded, saying that "with this witness, before our city, of our faith...we have answered Christ's call to walk with him these hours."
