This Lent I
have been praying the Stations of the Cross daily. Recently, I discovered that Saint Michael’s
Abbey has the stations up on a hill outside the monastery, so on Saturday I
ventured out for a moment of prayer.
When I got to the monastery, I felt a great desire to say hello to Jesus
first and headed inside the parish. Once
inside I learned that I had arrived ten minutes before the beginning of Mass, I
was delighted by the lovely surprise.
Fifteen minutes into the service I realized that it was my first Mass in
Latin and though I think I need a lot of guidance, the service and was beyond
beautiful. The form of worship gave me a
deep sense that all the attention is on God, my eyes and mind kept getting
redirected to God. It’s hard to explain,
but I had no time to think whether I enjoyed the music or if the homily was up
to my standards because my mind was entirely on God and not on what I was
getting out of it.
After Mass,
I found the way of the cross trail and began my praying session. The weather was perfect and my view
absolutely marvelous, nature at its best.
At each station I stopped and contemplated the porcelain image of
Jesus. There’s so much to learn from
meditating on each station. The lesson
of never giving up as Jesus falls three times and gets back up, of doing
good even when we are hurting when Jesus meets the women crying, of forgiveness
when Jesus asks “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing…”
Each station offers so much wisdom, but the
one that this Lent has been most in my mind is the fifth station where Simon of
Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross. I
think I’ve mentioned before that I am a little prideful or maybe more shy in
asking and accepting help. Yet, to see
Jesus at his most vulnerable accept help really speaks to me. I think this little gem helps me understand
that it’s ok to need help. I think most
of the time as Christians we hear the message of being helpers, of offering our
talents for the good of others; and we go thinking that we must always suppress
our own needs. Yet, Jesus needed help on
his way to the cross! Scripture tells us
that there’s a season for everything including a time when we will need
assistance. Jesus being God could have
carried the cross all the way, but he requires Simon’s help. Why?
Being in a
state of need is humbling, but it also gives others the occasion to shine their
light. Even though Simon is forced to
help Jesus carry the cross, God shows us that we need one another that together
we are stronger- that together we can reach the finish line.
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