Growing up, Friday night Stations of the Cross and Fish Fries were stables in Lenten activities for my family. My mom and dad wouldn't have thought about us missing either. I can not say they were favorite activities of mine at the time. The aerobic exercise of standing and kneeling on repeat for the 14 stations and the fact that I despised fish clearly ruined it for me. But as I grew up, my opinion of both has changed. I now like fish and while the kneeling is close to impossible for me due to a bad knee and hip, I have come to have a deep appreciation for the devotion of Stations of the Cross and reflecting on Christ's sacrifice for us. Oh, how he must love us!
That being said, this Lenten tradition of attending the Stations of the Cross at Church hasn’t really been a focus for our family in the past since our son would struggle with it’s length and seriousness. His autistic brain, ADHD, and anxiety issues made it a hard form of prayer for him. This changed a couple of years ago when I found these simple, short, printable Stations of the Cross from OSV (https://reply.osv.com/Stations) and we are praying the stations at home! I hanging them on the wall at his height and we take turns reading the few sentences on each station aloud. I also made him a Stations of the Cross box with something to symbolize each station. He keeps his hands busy by holding the item as we pray the corresponding station then he places it in the box and moves on to the next one.
As parents of a child with special needs, we constantly have to advocate for our children. Sometimes, we have to practically beg their schools for adaptions to lessons, spend hours finding the perfect doctors, therapists, child care, camps, social groups, athletic programs, etc. so that we will find a place that meets their needs and where they can flourish. Let us not forget to do the same for their spiritual health and well being. Get creative in ways they can participate in our traditions and prayers and grow in their relationship with the Lord. It is after all, the most important relationship they will ever have.
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