Meditations on the Passion of Christ: The Stations

My journey into mediation began by praying the Stations of the Cross. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains what Catholic meditation is:

Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking….It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: ‘Lord what do you want me to do?’…Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire….Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary (CCC 2705-2708).

Read my meditations on Stations 1,2, and 3: “Our Creator on the Cross.”

STATION OF THE CROSS #4

As I look upon the Fourth Station, I see the Blessed Virgin Mary touching her son, and the guards permitting her to comfort our Lord, which I’m sure she was doing by her very presence. Without a doubt she understood his mission, how could she not know ? Perhaps she recalled the prophetic words spoken to her when Jesus was presented in the Temple according to the law of Moses:

The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce)’ (Luke 2: 34-35).

When she looked upon the suffering of our Lord, she had to implicitly give her consent.

Her first yes, at the Annunciation was an act of love, of receiving and giving. How difficult it may have been for her to give her second ‘yes,’ again an act of love but this time receiving suffering instead of joy. As Jesus carries his cross, the Blessed Mother steps into the street for a final embrace and farewell. How her heart had sung those many years ago when the angel greeted her as the favored one of the Lord. How easy was her consent then, how painful her consent now (Father Peyton’s Rosary Prayrt Book).

Surely there was some consolation in knowing that this temporary suffering would lead to eternal joy.  She knew, perhaps as well as her son, that this suffering was necessary for our salvation. He suffered and died not for any wrong doing on his part, but to make amends for the sins of mankind, to open the gates of heaven, and free us from eternal damnation—if we so choose.

His suffering then on Calvary now through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (which serves to re-present not re-create his crucifixion) brings us healing from our sins and from the sins of others:

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured. While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins. Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).

STATION OF THE CROSS: #5:   

Moving from one station to the next, I notice an apparent cause and effect sequence from Station #3 to Station #5. In Station #3 Jesus falls for the first time; in the next station his Blessed Mother is there to comfort him, then in Station #5 we see Simon helping Jesus carry his cross. St. Luke describes this event as follows:

As they led him away they took hold of a certain Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country; and after laying the cross on him, they made him carry it behind Jesus (Luke 23:26).

It is possible and highly likely that Simeon was  pressed into service  as  a  result of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercession.  What pain she must have suffered, a love crucified, a love in contradiction, wanting and needing to ease her son’s suffering, yet fully aware that his suffering was required for our redemption. Her maternal love as a witness to his suffering and not able to significantly ease that suffering could only serve to increase her pain as she watched her son carry his cross, our cross, to Calvary.

Perhaps in the mystery of salvation her pain was co-joined to our Lord’s pain, thus more than compensating for his brief respite and allowing the Blessed Mother to participate in the redemptive act to some extent.

STATION OF THE CROSS #6

In the next Station we see Veronica approaching our Savior in an act of mercy, to comfort him by wiping the sweat and blood from his bruised face. The Blessed Virgin Mary was the first to offer help to our Lord.  Simon, a stranger, was next. Now Veronica steps forward to comfort Jesus. So little is known about her; Sacred Scripture does not explicitly mention her, and Sacred Tradition tells us very little. The cloth, Veronica’s veil, used to wipe the face of Jesus is said to bear an imprint of  his facial features, and today a copy of Veronica’s veil is kept at the Vatican.

We have his mother, followed by a stranger and then a near-stranger helping our Lord; but what happened to his Apostles, the sacred few who spent so much time with him ? (Except for the Apostle John, who stood at the foot of the cross with the Blessed Virgin Mary, see John 19:26-27). They witnessed Jesus give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing to the sick, and so much more.  So many miracles, so much evidence to support their Faith.

Yet where was their Faith on the road to Calvary? Fear and confusion had subdued their faith, sent them into hiding, and kept them from our Lord. They knew that he was the Messiah; when Jesus asked his Apostles,

But who do you say that I am ? Simon Peter said in reply, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16: 15-16).

Does fear ever interfere with our Faith ?  I don’t mean the degree of fear that the Apostles experienced, the apprehension, real or imaginary, of persecution or death.  I am referring to the type of fear in the context of social or political correctness.  The type of fear that is concerned with “how we may look to others as we look to them for approval; the type of fear that moves us to conform to social or cultural expectations and ‘correct’ behavior.

The type of fear that may keep us quiet when we hear our co-workers agreeing with pro-choice conversation; openly and boldly declaring that abortion in some cases is okay, that murder, in some cases is okay, that taking the life of an unborn infant in some case is okay, and as we listen, we just listen and stay quiet.  Or the kind of fear that keeps the rosary in our pocket when we feel like praying but we don’t because we are  in a public place and someone may disapprove, or just stare, making us feel uncomfortable because they are  uncomfortable.

Jesus in speaking about fear said:

do not be afraid….Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father (Matthew 10: 32-33).