Have you noticed? Hard to miss that I've used several cemetery art images recently. Somehow, this art has caught my imagination. It all started a year or so ago when one of my plurky friends started photographing these lovely statues at a cemetery she went to. One of the photos that stayed in my memory had an added attraction: she placed a live rose in the photograph. It made the image even more sad and melancholy. But nonetheless, even more beautiful.
I really don't consider this art morbid. I think it expresses the sadness at the loss of the loved one that the family is experiencing. It also expresses to future generations that this dead person was once alive just like we are... with similar joys and sorrows... and that someone was mourned just as we will be when we leave this earth...
This week is Holy Week. We will be remembering that our God allowed His Son to die so that we might live. There was mourning at the tomb... But sunrise brought the joy of Resurrection!
~ Image from a Paris cemetery
I used these reflections as I led the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday at my parish. Perhaps they will be helpful for others...
First Station: Jesus is condemned to death
Jesus prays: Father, in the Garden of Gethsemane, I begged You to let this cup pass from me. But I knew even then that I would accept it and that Your Will would be my destiny. Pilate has given me over to people who hate me. They cry out for me to be crucified... and I am afraid.
Second Station: Jesus carries His Cross
Jesus prays: Father, help me in this, my final journey. They have crushed a crown of thorns on my head; they have scourged my body; and now, they have thrust a heavy cross across my bleeding back... Father, please give me the strength to carry this cross up Calvary Hill. I feel so alone... but I know You are with me. And Father, I forgive them...
Third Station: Jesus falls the first time
Jesus prays: Oh Father, the cross is too heavy. My body is too weak. I can scarcely see what is ahead of me and I have stumbled and fallen. The people are mocking me as they drag me to my feet again... Father, help me...
Fourth Station: Jesus meets His afflicted Mother
Jesus and His Mother speak: Mother... Mother...
My son, my precious son... If only I could take your place... But I will walk with you... I will never leave you... I love you...
Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry His Cross
Simon speaks: The soldiers are pushing me toward the cross and are forcing me to help a man carry it. Will they crucify me too? Oh, God, behold the man... I recognize him. Truly, he is now a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Jesus, I will help you...
Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the Face of Jesus
Veronica speaks: What have they done to my Lord? He is like someone from whom people hide their faces. They despise and reject him. My Lord, let me wipe the blood from your face...
Seventh Station: Jesus falls the second time
Jesus prays: Father, give me courage... People are crowding around me. I can scarcely breathe... I am so tired. I stumble and fall hard on the sharp cobblestones. The soldiers are dragging me to my feet once more, because I have no strength left. They will not let me die here...
Eighth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
Jesus speaks: Father, the crowd has gotten larger and among the people are many of the women who used to accompany me. Their tears touch my heart. Despite my anguish, I want to comfort them. Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but for yourselves and for your children.
Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time
Jesus prays: Father, I cannot go on... I am sick unto death. I have lost too much blood... The way has become steeper because we are climbing Calvary Hill. Again, I slip on the jagged stones and am crushed to the ground by the weight of the cross... I know the end of my journey is near. Your Will is hard, Father, but I put my hope and trust in You. There is nothing else...
Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of His clothes
Jesus prays: Father, I have reached my destination. Here I stand on Calvary Hill. They have taken my clothes and are casting lots for them. They taunt and revile me in my nakedness. I have been led like a lamb to the slaughter. Soon I will be cut off from the land of the living... Stay near me, Father... I need You...
Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the Cross
Jesus prays: Oh my Father, the pain is so great I can hardly bear it. These hand that have healed your people... These hands that have blessed their children... These hand that have broken the bread and blessed the cup... These hand have almost been split apart by the spikes nailed through them. My feet that have walked in your paths, will do so no more in this life. As the cross is raised, my body is now being dragged down by my weight... and I am in agony...
Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the Cross
Jesus speaks and prays his final words:
Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing...
Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise...
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me...
I'm so thirsty...
It is finished...
Father, into Your hands, I commend my spirit...
Thirteenth Station: The body of Jesus is taken down from the Cross
Mary speaks: Be careful... Be gentle with him... John, bring me my son. I want to hold him in my arms one last time... Oh, my precious Jesus... My son...
Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb
Joseph of Arimathea speaks: Mary, I have a tomb already hewn into the rock. We will wrap the body of Jesus in a linen cloth and will lay him there. I will seal the tomb with a large stone so no one can steal his body...
Our Heavenly Father speaks to US: Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore, I will give him his portion among the great and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses. Is 53:11-12
