When Jesus is finally placed in the tomb, he was dead. His mother, whom he handed over to John's care, most likely grieved for her son the carpenter. As in a funeral procession, we walked through the stations of the cross following Jesus until he is placed in the tomb.
This Michaelangelo piece, one of my favorites, laments the broken body of Jesus. Yet it is the women, and possibly Mary, who are the first to find Jesus's body missing on the third day. On that Easter day, Mary and the women don't understand yet that Jesus has risen. They're still wracked in sorrow, as depicted in this statue. But from this limp body comes new life, new hope.
I lost my soon-to-be brother-in-law this past week. It's been a highly emotional affair, and we wept over his passing. We grieved like the women of Jerusalem. We wiped his brow like Veronica. But Easter approaches, and moreover, I have a wedding in a week. Timothy would have walked down the aisle in the procession, but though he won't be physically able to do so any more, in our hearts, like in Mary's, he lives on. In our tears, we await the coming dawn, when life blooms once more.
May your journey to Easter, possibly filled with hunger and pain, be awash in love and hope, for you, for your family, and for all who you love. God is love, and in love, Easter and new life become present among us.
"Pieta" St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Oct 2009
wow
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this wonderful work. Having grown up in a very fundamentalist church, we didn't talk about the stations of the cross. I don't know why but it is something I became more familiar with at All Saints but your presentation had touched me more than any other. Thank you!!!
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