WHY? Suffering and the Cross - A Lenten Meditation

Today, in this season of Lent, I am contemplating the cross. St. Clare of Assisi spoke of the mirror of the cross - she boldy asks us to dare to witness the suffering of Jesus without looking away. Holy cow! As I think about that, I imagine the scene of Jesus on the cross...mutilated...tortured...dying in the most disgusting way possible...and to dare to SEE him?! Oh my.

But this is where there is the paradox of suffering. I have come to realize that I am able to sit with another person in the midst of their suffering only when I am at peace with my own suffering.

In this sense, I must stand both in observation of the cross - staring into the mirror of the crucified GOD - while at the same time looking outward from the cross.

As stated by Ilia Delio...“To find oneself in the mirror of the cross is to see the world not from the foot of the cross but from the cross itself.”


Thus, I must boldly walk into my own suffering...my own questions...and allow the questions to be what they are. For this, I paint...

The artistic journey behind my new painting WHY? began simply. I wrote my emotions and embodied sensations on the canvas in black.

Then I wrote what I wanted to feel in pink....along with a prayer from 2013....
"I come trembling to the feet of Jesus and ask WHO WILL I BE TOMORROW."

Boldly letting go...I layer words and images on top from a local publication....

And then COLOR.

AS my hands scrape the canvas I realize I'm asking the question WHY?!?!

Why must there be pain? Why suffering? Why is this the fractal journey?

And now the painting holds the question.

"Why?"

Original Art by Heather Thompson, Blue Phoenix Art

12 x 36

Mixed Media on Canvas