"Walking with Jesus on the Way to Salvation"

During Lent more than 200 individuals joined to pray for prisoners with the Federal Association’s Prison Ministry Way of the Cross (Linked Here) in three sites across the regions in Washington, DC and Maryland.

“Walking With Jesus on the Way to Salvation” was developed by the Federal Association’s Prison Ministry Committee, based on the text of the late Pope Francis’s Good Friday Way of the Cross in an empty St. Peter’s Square during the pandemic in 2020. Inmates in more than 1600 prisons across the nation use this prayer service on tablets. The text is illustrated by the work of artists on death row in Nashville, Tennessee. This modern Way of the Cross was initially designed for prisoners, but the committee also realized these stations are an important resource for us “outside the walls” that link us in prayer with our brothers and sisters in their cells. 

On the first Friday in Lent 2026, the Holy Trinity Order of Malta parish group in Washington, DC hosted this liturgy for more than 60 knights, dames, and parishioners. The reflections included for the stations come from individuals impacted by the justice system in Padua, Italy, but the emotions in the text are universal. On that night in Georgetown, one especially touching reading occurred at the station "Jesus Meets his Mother," speaking directly to the experience of the mother of a woman prisoner who did that reading on being drawn closer to the Blessed Mother. Malta hospitality continued afterward as all were invited to a simple soup supper. 

The Montgomery County Region hosted the second presentation of the Prison Ministry Stations at St. Bartholomew Church in Bethesda, Maryland. Order of Malta chaplain Msgr. John Enzler presided over the liturgy attended by more than 110 people. The church facility had large screens to display the artwork for each station on the Way of the Cross. Again, Order members prepared a soup supper for attendees who gathered before the prayer service. Several from the parish commented on how the liturgy moved them and inquired about how they might become involved in the work of prison ministry.

On Good Friday, we brought the Way of the Cross to our prison reentry partner, Gatekeepers. Released former inmates, together with Hagerstown, Maryland people helping them there, joined by members of the Order, read the reflections as we prayed in community. Again, folks were able to identify in the reflections with Christ who died between two prisoners as well as with the messages of hope and salvation. One woman returning to society from prison, who read from the station “Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem,” shared afterward that the reflection about a woman who was the daughter of a prisoner was the story of her relationship with her own father. As before, we shared soup and bread for supper afterward. 

We have had reports from other regions using this Way of the Cross. One of these, the Bluffton, South Carolina Region, hosted the Prison Ministry Stations in several parishes this Lent and has planned more for next year. In the spirit of Matthew 25, we can pray for those in prison even if we are not able to visit them in person.