making the stations

I’ve been making the Stations of the Cross garden stones since Ash Wednesday in the year 2005. I was inspired by the writings of St. Catherine Emmerich regarding Mary’s house in Ephesus, Turkey.

St. Catherine tells how Mary, the virgin mother of Christ, had placed stones marking the Passion of Christ in the garden behind her home in Ephesus. This story gave me the idea to make garden stones of the Way of the Cross for backyard gardens.

I saw a tiffany glass garden stone at my sister’s house of a sunflower and thought this would be the perfect medium for making the Way of the Cross. The glass & concrete are sturdy enough to weather the elements and retain their beauty. They fit well in a garden setting. They turn an otherwise ordinary setting into a prayerful, meditative one.

The Stations pictured here are tiffany garden stepping-stones not really meant to be stepped upon, but they could be. They are made from cut stained glass & concrete. The images are pieces of glass, held in place by the concrete. It takes me around 8-12 hours to make each stone depending on the detail and how many pieces of glass. Each piece is scored, and then broken. Most of them need to be ground to smooth out the edges and for finer detail in shaping. They are then put together like a puzzle to form the image. When all the glass pieces are in place they are taped together and placed in a mold. The mold can be any shape; octagon, circle, rectangle, square, diamond. Once placed in position in the mold the concrete is mixed, colored, and then poured into the mold. When the concrete dries the piece is taken out of the mold and cleaned up. It then needs to cure for about a month before being treated with a concrete water seal.

Many of the images I used to create my patterns were inspired by St. Catherine Emmerich's book, on which the movie “The Passion of The Christ” was based. Many of the images I use are so reflective, such as the 2nd Station “Jesus Accepts the Cross” where Jesus actually “hugs and embraces” the Cross, that one finds themselves naturally drawn deeper into contemplation.

When I was making the very first pattern, ‘Jesus is condemned by Pilate’ I had originally drawn a picture of Jesus standing slightly behind Pilate who was addressing the crowd. Later that day, after I put my miraculous medal on, I resumed work drawing my pattern when the thought occured to me, “make Jesus bigger”. I thought, “but if I make Jesus bigger there won’t be any room for Pilate?” then the answer came, “make Pilate smaller”. Doesn’t that just sound like our Blessed Mother? Make Jesus bigger! And so I did. From then on I have been consulting Our Lady during the entire process - “Which piece of glass should I use here? Help me make this cut? Where should this go?” so that for me the process of making the Stations is truly “Ora est Labora”.

I can’t allow myself to take the credit for having any talent in making these. I have never cut glass before in my life. I had to ask the clerk at the Stained Glass store which tools I would need and how to use them. Indeed, if there is any good in any of them it is the work of the Holy Spirit using my hands.