IV. Jesus Meets his Mother
Mike Hill

The Fourth Station of the Cross is traditionally depicted in this way: Jesus, carrying His cross to Golgotha, falls (or stumbles) under the weight. At this moment, He sees His mother in the crowd. Unable to touch or speak to each other, they exchange a brief glance. Both draw strength and hope from this momentary encounter. In "Station IV: Jesus Meets His Mother," arms and hands - or the lack thereof - are used as symbols for suffering, redemption, and hope. I took the idea of Jesus and Mary's inability to embrace as an image of suffering. In the central panel a woman approaches to embrace a young man - her son. But their broken, armless bodies make it impossible for them to embrace and thus comfort each other. The left and right panels show the wounded arms and hands of our Savior. And in the top and bottom panels, hands reach towards each other to finally meet at the center of the Cross.