Following the Light, photography with Mary: A Cross to Bear

The Graveyards of Ireland are full of the most beautiful crosses. Headstones have taken over big time on modern graves but old stone crosses are standing the test of time and though in some cases the writing is hard to decipher, the cross is standing marking the final resting place of a life lived.

The Cross has great significance to me not only as a Christian but also because it held such weight in our house. My Mother frequently prayed for a cross. I don't know why she would do this as she suffered a brain haemorrage when she was expecting my younger sister, which nearly killed the pair of them. One time in particular her prayer was answered. Biafra was in the news at the time. There was a major famine and the images we were seeing on TV were too much to bear.
That night after the Rosary my mother prayed for a cross as a sacrifice for the poor starving people in Biafra.
Next morning she got up for mass as she did every morning. She walked the half mile to the church on her own, which was about as far as she could venture without getting lost. As she was approaching the gates of the church a black dog who greeted her every morning ran out from his house and bit her in the leg. He cut through an artery and the blood shot up in the air, we were told.
She got 40 stitches in her leg and guess what.... The scar healed in the shape of a cross. So be careful what you ask for, that's a true story. I wish i had a photograph of her leg to show you.

I did create this next photograph in memory of my mother. I call it "A Cross o Bear", the shadow of the cross is falling across the models face. The significance of this for me is the shadow the Brain Haemorrhage left on her life and ours too. She was just a shadow of the woman she was before it happened and we never knew her as she should have been. To this day we love to hear stories about her as a young woman who nursed for several years before she got married.