Colombo (AsiaNews) - For 150 years the shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows in Ja-ela, 10 kilometers from Colombo, has been a place of devotion very dear to the population of Sri Lanka. A short distance from the church, built in 1802, stands the Kapaala Kanda, which in Sinhalese means Mount Calvary. Since 1849, religious and devotees have been reliving the Passion of Christ by walking the stations of the Via Crucis along the hillside.

The celebrations for Good Friday will begin at 9 o'clock in the morning, with the Via Crucis presided over by Cardinal Oswald Gomis, archbishop of Colombo, and by the vicar of the region to the north of the capital, Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando. Thousands of faithful are expected. Fr. Shanthasagara Hettiarchchi, the pastor of the shrine, tells AsiaNews that the approximately 2,600 Catholic families in the local area have long been preparing themselves for the celebrations of the Passion, and the 150th anniversary. Some politicians and non-Catholics have also contributed to the preparation of the Triduum, at which many faithful from other dioceses will also participate. The shrine and the Kapaala Kanda bring devotees from all over the southern part of the island, and "during Lent," Fr. Hettiarchchi notes, "very many faithful also have arrived here from dioceses far from Ja-ela, especially students who have come here with their classmates."

The stations of the Via Crucis in Kapaala Kanda conclude at the tomb in which Christ is placed after the crucifixion, and at which the faithful pray at the end of the liturgy. At each of the stations are statues that represent the various characters of the Passion, but over the years some of them have been replaced with live actors, who have made the Via Crucis of Ja-ela a sort of living representation of Jesus' last hours of before his death.

The history of the shrine and of the stations of the Via Crucis reflects the great popular devotion for this place. In 1985, for example, parishioners collected about 60,000 Sri Lankan rupees in order to build an erosion fence on the hillside of Kapaala Kanda. The president of the municipality of Ja-ela also contributed to the project by writing personally to the president at the time, who provided the remaining 50,000 rupees that were needed to complete the work. 10 years later, in 1995, devotees collected funds to erect a new cross to replace the previous one, which was 145 years old: at that time as well, the generosity of the faithful was seconded by that of a businessman who donated the wood for the new cross.