Visio Divina: Meeting Mary and the Women of Jerusalem
As you gaze at each of the images, notice your breath and your body.
Simply be present to the images and allow them to speak to your heart, openly.
The images may speak to you in words or sensations.
How do you feel looking at each image?
In Station 4 (Jesus meets Mary), notice how the cross has overtaken the scene and how it crushes the figures into a very limited space. How does this speak to the pain of Mary’s pierced heart? Or of Jesus’ knowledge of how much his mother was suffering?
Notice how their garments and halo join in color, a sharing of divine purpose. Notice how their bodies intertwine in an embrace of both comfort and desperation. See how a thorn of Jesus’ crown pierces Mary’s heart.
Notice how the neutral tones of the crowd are all but pushed out of the scene and can offer no comfort.
In Station 8 (Jesus meets the women), how does the composition depict a different relationship with the women than he had with his mother?
Notice how in his suffering, he shares their pain by the common splashes of red in their hearts and mantle
How does Jesus support the women? They lean on him; they are surrounded by his blue life force, yet they are still under the pain of the cross, separated from the larger crowd. He has taken time to let them know they are seen.