Lent, Day 6: "I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet."

One story: a women at the cross, rescued by His love and now witness to His execution. Swallowed in grief, she is alone - and the painting catches her, staring at his wounds. What is she thinking? Is she praying? Is her gaze her prayer?

I took the top photograph of a painting at the Getty Center; the bottom photo I took at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. While they tell the same story, they are also two different stories? One swoons before the fallen Lord, in a kind of curtsy, unwittingly honoring Him who has been so dishonored. The other falls into His wound, losing control and decorum, desperate to be with Him regardless. One story, two perspectives; one Savior, two different ways to him.