We invite you to enter into meditation on the Way of the Cross. Episcopal Café Speaking to the Soul offers four versions of the Stations of the Cross at Multimedia Meditations.
These stations, crafted from 4-inch squares of copper, were made by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange (in Orange , Calif.) in the early 1960s.
The stations graced the walls of two convents for several years. When the convents closed, they were erected on posts on the grounds of La Providencia, and were given a roof to weather the elements.
Last Oct. 26, fire swept through the grounds and completely destroyed all but two of the stations, the 3rd and the 7 th – Jesus Falls . All but one of the copper plates were found strewn over several acres. That one, the 4th station – Mary meets Jesus – is being retooled.
It has taken some time to restore all the stations. They are still beautiful and have a character of their own, having gone through the fire. The two stations that remained became a symbol for people who were affected by the fire to get up and go on.
These stations were painted by artists from Turkana, Kenya around 1995 and are housed in Lodwar Cathedral in Kenya.
The stations reflect the life and environment of the Turkana people. Faces, dress and places are authentically Turkana. Soldiers are Kenyan, not Roman. Pilate wears the traditional dress of a Turkana chief and the cross is a rough piece of a local tree. Lodwar’s shops and houses are the background in many of the stations.
The Turkana are a people who suffer a lot, from diseases, sickness, insecurity and hunger and have been left behind in Kenya’s struggle for development. When they saw a Jesus who looks like them suffering and being crucified in their own locality they were able to identify very closely with him.
Walking the Stations with Children:
Stations are places where people wait while they are going from one place to another. A school-bus stop is like a station. People wait at train stations or bus stations or airports. Think of some stations where you have been.
Stations are also places where people take time to think about Jesus as he went to die on a cross. They are “Stations of the Cross.” They show us how much Jesus loved us.
You do not have to think of all of the Stations of the Cross on one day. You may want to stay at one Station with Jesus for a few days before you move to another Station. Whatever you decide, Jesus is with you and he loves you.
The Stations of the Cross in the chapel at the University of Central America, a Jesuit college in San Salvador, El Salvador, are especially graphic. They portray in unflinching detail, the torture visited upon Salvadorans by right wing death squads and the U. S. backed government during that country’s civil war in the 1980s. These stations serve as a reminder that many people walk the way of the cross every day, denied justice and dignity as Christ was, by powerful political forces.
For other meditations for the Triduum, re-read the reflections for Holy Week at the Café Speaking to the Soul.