Stations of the Cross

The Rosary

"Just as the scripture says that faith and hope without love are only sounding brass and tinkling cymbal, so also the joy proclaimed without mentioning the pain is only sounding brass and tinkling cymbal; unheeded, it whistles past the ear of the suffering one; it sounds on the ear but does not resound in the heart; it agitates the ear but is not treasured within. But this voice which quivers with pain and still proclaims joy - yes, this forces its way in through his ear and descends into his heart and is treasured there."                   ~Soren Kierkegaard For more … Read here

The Way of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross originated in pilgrimages to Jerusalem. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the meditation is often performed in a spirit of reparation for the sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during His Passion This is a horrible guilt inducing understanding that is focused on the external – the suffering of some historical and largely mythical story, that misses the meaning of the story. I will include all the stations, both the traditional and the scriptural so that as you do this walking meditation with a series of stations in any church you will have guidance with which ever representation is there. Pope John Paul II referred to Acts of Reparation as the "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified.” While this is an acknowledgement of all humans as children of God and an encouragement for social justice and good works, the focus is still primarily external on others instead of internal and focused on our own path first.

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3rd Station of the Cross (Traditional) - Jesus Falls the First Time

There are no scriptural references to Jesus falling under the weight of his cross. However, the traditional stations include the first, second and third times that Jesus fell.

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3rd Station of the Cross (Modern) - Jesus is Delivered to the Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three to seventy-one men appointed in every city in the Land of Israel. In the Hebrew Bible, Moses and the Israelites were commanded by God to establish courts of judges who were given full authority over the people of Israel, who were commanded by God to obey every word the judges instructed and every law they established.

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4th Station of the Cross (Modern) - Peter Denies Jesus

Each of the disciples represents an archetypal energy that we need to work through to attain enough awareness for us to gain wisdom and compassion. In all traditions 12 represents the number of energies that have to be integrated to create wholeness – whether we are talking about the 12 lost tribes of Israel, the Gods of ancient Greece or the zodiac. This external story tells of the betrayal and denial of the Christ within all of us. Think of the Christ consciousness within – your own soul - and its recognition that it has created a part that will deny itself. This is the ego defense of denial, flight and betrayal.

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5th Station of the Cross (Modern) - Jesus is Judged by Pontius Pilate

“What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, Because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.” ~Anaïs Nin

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5th Station of the Cross (Traditional), 8th Station of the Cross (Modern) Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to Carry his Cross

Very little is known about Simon of Cyrene other than the Roman soldiers compelled him to help Jesus carry his cross. This is mentioned in the books of Luke, Matthew and Mark. He was from Libya, probably a black convert to Judaism. We are told that he and his family of two sons and a wife became Christians after this event. So why is this one of the Stations of the Cross if that is all it was? For more … Read here

The 6th Station of the Cross (Modern) – Jesus is Scourged and Crowned with Thorns

Contemplate what the painting would be if you were to depict the ways in which your thinking has pricked you and brought blood. When has your thinking caused you to sweat, blood and tears? Thorns are a very ancient symbol denoting suffering, defense and the pain caused by defenses. A rose bush first growths healthy green leaves and stems protected by thorns and when it is mature enough, roses blossom. Thorns are mentioned in Genesis to talk about the suffering of the world when one leaves the unity of the spiritual world, or “fall from Grace.” Like the Sleeping Beauty, thorns surround us while we are still asleep. We are only awoken if we find a gallant part of ourselves that breaks through the hedge of thorns and awakens us with the kiss of love. Our intellects are the thorns of protection we need up until a certain point in our development, but are also the symbol of being pierced and hurt by our own defenses once they are no longer needed. The intellect is our “crowning glory.” It is pinnacle of evolutionary development that can both serve and destroy us. It is the King we worship for a long time on our path. But it is a false king – a poor shadow of true royalty of wisdom and Truth. A big pitfall on the spiritual journey is to mock and denigrate ourselves for having those intellectual defenses that once protected us. For more … Read here

6th Station of the Cross (Traditional) - Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

Consider how you have projected all that is finest, kindest and most compassionate out onto others instead of recognizing it as you and giving it to yourself. Or how you have seen others as so wonderful and not recognized those very traits within yourself. Everything in life is a mirror image of an inner dynamic and process. Take back your projections. And how do you do this?

            Every judgment you make of others is a judgment of self. When you judge another, consider how you are acting out onto others the introjected parent that hurt you with those same judgments. Go to the hurting child in you with compassion and wipe the sweat, tears and blood with your own veil of defense and you will be filled with Grace. Every act of generosity, kindness, non-reactivity and service needs to be given to you first. You must see in the other person that the one needing your love or help, is you. That does not mean you stop giving to others – you merely take off the veil of defense and see what your soul needs. Beware at this stage of slipping into egocentricity and selfishness where you stop doing for others. This is not an excuse to stop doing for others.

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7th and 9th Stations of the Cross (Traditional) – Jesus Falls Down the Second Time and Third Times

 The three times Jesus falls is not biblically based. Clearly however, again it points to his humanity, not his divinity.

            How many times have you stumbled and fallen as a consequence of the suffering your carry and yet you keep picking up that cross of duality again and again and again? Think of a simple example. You do things you do not want to do – it is an immense burden of guilt and shame that keeps you doing, doing, doing for others. You get nothing in return except ingratitude and the sense of being used. You vow to not keep doing things out of guilt and acting the martyr. And yet the next time someone tries to use you to do something they can do themselves, you pick up the cross of the martyr again and again and again. 

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8th Station of the Cross (Traditional), 9th Station (Modern) - Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, who weep for him

“Man’s task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious.” ~Carl Jung

There are always at least two ways of hearing something.  If what is said comes from love and the soul, the very same words mean something completely different than when they come from the ego. In fact, they mean the exact opposite.                                               

 So assuming that Jesus is still on the path to his own salvation in this story, and is still in his ego consciousness, then this passage sounds bitter, resentful, rageful, and even desiring revenge on humanity that he perceives as “doing this to him.” Can you allow yourself to hear it this way? The response to the compassion of the women who love him is prideful and defiant. The words, could also be prophetic and deeply wise and insightful into the condition of humanity.  You can see which side of this you need to work on yourself.

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10th Station of the Cross (Traditional) - Jesus is stripped of his garments

Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, And began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.” ~J.K. Rowling

In this text they divided the clothes into 4 parts. What do you think the number four  represents? What do you think is the meaning of the under tunic that was without seam and so left whole? What does it mean that this happened so as to fulfill the prophecy?

Although the pictures often depict Jesus with a loincloth, this is not how actual crucifixions happened. The point was to torture and humiliate someone to make a very horrible example to deter others from inciting anything against the Roman rule.  Jesus would have been stripped naked of all his outer pretensions very literally. For more … Read here

11th Station of the Cross (Traditional), 10th (Modern) – Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

 “On the level of the Son there is no answer to the question of good and evil; there is only an incurable separation of the opposites …. It seems to me to be the Holy Spirit’s task and charge to reconcile and

reunite the opposites in the human individual through a special development of the human soul.”   ~Jung in “The Symbolic Life”

Again we have the number three. The Christ (awakened aspect of Self) at the center, and the two thieves on either side. One is “impenitent,” and one is penitent.” The penitent one is in alignment with the will of God (Love) the impenitent one not. All that is repented within, is aligned with the soul and is “resurrected,” meaning, awakened to love or a higher state of consciousness.

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12th Station of the Cross, (Traditional) 13th Station of the Cross (Modern) – Jesus dies on the Cross

S(He) whose proud light they have received,                                                                       And are enlightened by the sight of their Lord; S(He) whose Immortal Food they have received, That hath no failing, And have drunk of the Wine That giveth them neither thirst nor desire. And they have glorified and praised, With the Living Spirit, The Father of Truth and the Mother of Wisdom.                      ~Acts of Thomas 7

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13th Station of the Cross (Traditional) – Jesus is taken down from the cross and given to Joseph of Arimathea

“You are two hands, two legs, and two eyes,
But if your heart and the Beloved are also two,
what good is that?
You call out, 'I am the lover',
but these are mere words.
If you see lover and Beloved as two,
you either have double vision
or you can't count.”                          ~Rumi

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14th Station of the Cross (Traditional and Modern) - Jesus is Placed in the Tomb

Every breath is a chance to be reborn spiritually.
But to be reborn into a new life, you have to die before dying.
~ Rumi  (allegedly)

·      What do the tomb and the garden symbolize? 

·      The garden is a very rich metaphor of feminine space. Consider all the processes that happen in the garden.

·      What does the ritual of washing the body, using spices and wrapping the body, signify? 

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