Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
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April 4, 2020The Fifth Station, Jesus is helped by Simon of Cyrene.
We adore you Oh Christ and We Praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World!
The fifth Station hit me like a ton of bricks as I was praying the stations yesterday. Christ falls again and the soldiers were afraid that He was going to die before they got Him to the cross, so they grabbed a random bystander, whose position would etch itself on history forever and they forced him to take Christ’s cross from him and help in the crucifixion. What struck me was the point of view that Simon must have had.
Simon of Cyrene was a foreigner, he had nothing to do with what was going on. He did not alleviate all of Christ’s pain, He just helped Christ to carry His cross a few steps further. To allow Christ to bear the burden of His suffering just long enough to get His own bearings.
Simon was just trying to go about his business when the burden of someone else was thrust upon him. He had no real choice in the matter, but he did it. How often are we given burdens that are not ours?
Do we accept them and take the burden off of the one more suffering? Do we gripe and complain about it? What struck me was how many times in my day I am called to be a Simon of Cyrene.
I think that a beautiful way to enter into Holy Week, the holiest week of the Church’s year, is to look for the moments that we can be Simon of Cyrene to others. Even in our present “quarantine” state, how can we help others bear their sufferings and burdens.
How can we help others to their Calvary, with the knowledge that it is only through Calvary that we can have an Easter!
"The statue must be chiseled with very sharp tools before it is fit to be placed in the grand gallery."
-St. Paul of the Cross, Mystic and Founder of the Passionists
God Bless, Wash your hands, Tom
