Station of the Cross Four 2023
Allie Senyard and Larisa Shaterian, Seminarians
Holy Apostles Episcopal Church, Good Friday 2023
The Stations of the Cross
The Fourth Station: Jesus Meets his Mother.
Station One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen
The Fourth Station: Jesus Meets his Mother.
Jesus breathed in.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Jesus' path takes him to a powerful source of his strength to continue. All his life, his mother had taught him the meaning of the words, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.” Now they look into each other's eyes. How pierced-through her heart must be! How pained he must be to see her tears! Now, her grace-filled smile blesses his mission and stirs his heart to its depth. Love and trust in God bind them together.
Right after I was given this prompt, I had a dentist appointment and that was a time when I was very aware of my breathing. I have sensitive teeth and so in anticipation of pain I would start clenching my fists, tensing up and I would have to talk myself into breathing to try to deal with that anxiety—in a better way. So if I could keep breathing, then I knew I could get through it. Of course this is not something that’s actual danger, it’s just perceived threat so breathing my way through it just helped tell my body that everything was gonna be ok.
One thing I think about often related to breath is when I’m putting my daughter to bed at night. As she gets sleepier, her breathing gets louder. And it will happen even before she’s closed her eyes, sometimes when we’re reading a story or we’re just being quiet, I’ll hear her breath get louder and I’ll know she’s in the zone where she’s gonna be taken by sleep soon. So I wait for the moment and I’m still staying with her until she falls asleep. She’s five years old. Sitting beside her and listening for those cues that, she’s given herself up for the day to sleep and her breathing is getting louder and more spaced out and then when I look back at her I can see that she’s finally fallen asleep.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Jesus breathed out.
Station One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen