Via Lucis – The Way of Light
In the Presence of Saint Joseph
Note to reader: This book was originally authored but never formally finished as a 10-year anniversary response to 911. I had my own 911 experience as I flew from Massachusetts that morning into Washington DC, landing at 8:45. I passed the Pentagon in a taxi less than a minute after the hijacked plane flew straight into the Pentagon. The memory of 911 is etched into my mind, and those affected are in my prayers all the time. My memory of the potential thoughts of Saint Joseph in heaven observing Jesus’s journey, death, and resurrection with us is also still as strong over a decade later. I am thrilled to have been blessed to get a second wind gently blowing through my mind to bring this book into a new form. As an update, in the past few months, I have received a third wind in the form of a Christian book publisher who is helping to bring the book into a new format.
Peace, and may Christ’s love be with you,
Jerry
The Way of Light (Via Lucis) also known as the Stations of Resurrection celebrates and highlights the most glorious time in the Christian liturgical year, the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost. The idea for depicting The Way of Light was inspired by an ancient inscription found on a wall of the San Callista Catacombs on the Appian Way in Rome. The praying of the Via Lucis is a contemporary discovery of an ancient devotion highlighting the continuing presence of the Risen Lord. This devotion was reintroduced in the official Vatican prayer book for the Jubilee Year 2000 titled, Pilgrim Prayers.
This Via Lucis variation uniquely considers the mystical presence of St. Joseph in our encounter with the living Christ. Saint Joseph is silent in Scripture but not in actions. As husband of Mary and with the entire community of saints he participates in our eternal journey with Jesus. Special consideration must be given to the striking watercolors of James Tissot. During a pilgrimage to Palestine in 1899, Tissot felt transported to the actual moments of Biblical events. Each of his paintings speaks a thousand words in the vivid actions they portray. A suggested contemplative approach for this Via Lucis is to imagine yourself as the human in each of James Tissot’s paintings while letting Saint Joseph speak to you in the silence.
Sample from the book: Via Lucis – The Way of Light, In the Presence of Saint Joseph
Introduction
Sign of the Cross
Reading: ‘For if we have grown into union with Christ through a death like His, we shall also be united with Him in the resurrection….If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall live with Him….Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus”: (Romans 6: 5, 7, 11).
Reflection: Let us meditate in communion with Saint Joseph upon the resurrection through ascension of Christ and discover the pathway of light that He blazes through our lives.
Silence
James J. Tissot, “The Anxiety of Saint Joseph”