Stations of the Cross: When Art and Tradition become Meditation

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The Stations of the Cross became a Christian devotional Prayer practice in the thirteenth century. This collection of image and text highlights new perspectives on an ancient meditation.Mary Jane Miller has expanded this prayer style and walking meditation for reflections on our lives today. She writes the text and painted the icon collection to be used metaphorically to journey with Jesus Christ from his trial to his entombment.
The participants use the Stations of the Cross to meditate on the Christs journey with his final surrender and release. The story of Jesus Christ’s final sufferings reveal themselves like a passion play as we walk with Him to Mount Calvary. Sacred Art is more than biblical story telling. They are a visual exercise in understanding injustice and strength seen from the point of the victim as well as the onlooker.
These 15 Stations of the Cross were designed to help navigate through a prescribed set of messages and motif to understand better how we humans fit into Christ’s message of love. Three times he meets the Women, three times he falls and is only helped once. He is stripped of his dignity yet is resurrected into light and loving energy. The hope is to understand the ritual practice, which is no longer limited to only church, but speaks of our human capacity to go beyond suffering.