Were You There? Stations of the Cross

What can we learn from the son of the carpenter, the Son of God, about our lives and the path we should follow? To contemplate this powerful re-enactment of Jesus's Passion--where Jerusalem is an African village, and all the characters are African--we reflect upon our own lives and burdens: family divisions, community clashes, poverty and racism, sins of commission and omission.

Where does our path lead? Even when things seem hopeless, we do know this: Jesus message and ministry, his suffering, death and resurrection, have fed and nurtured Christians for 2000 years. We understand the life of faith is ever enriched by the One who knows our sufferings, who has suffered for us and with us. This is our comfort and our strength.

Diana L. Hayes, professor emerita of systematic theology at Georgetown University, is a popular lecturer and the author of several books, including Trouble Don't Always Last: Soul Prayers (Liturgical Press), Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made (Fortress Press) Forged in the Fiery Furnace and No Crystal Stair (both from Orbis). She lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Charles S. Ndege is an artist from Tanzania, commissioned to paint these Stations on the walls of St. Joseph Mukasa Church in Mwanza.