VII Station: Jesus falls the second time

We adore you O Christ and we praise,

For by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world

Jesus falls for the second time

Lord Jesus, you were not ashamed to admit the cross was heavy. Your broken body could not support the weight any longer and so you fell to the ground. I can only imagine what thoughts scurried through your mind as you lay in the dust, surrounded by the taunts and belittlement of the crowd. Did you call out to your Father? Long for your mother to be close to you? Feel compassion for the crowd which had no idea that you were the fulfilment of God’s promise, the fullness of life, the greatest gift they would ever receive? Life often can be heavy and our strength sapped by the weight of the cross that we carry. To cope with failure is not easy.It is only natural that we want to succeed in life. Yet isn’t it wonderful when we achieve certain goals? But what happens when I fail? Pride will not tolerate that I be weak or that I be seen to fall, it is better to be strong. However, if the Father permits failure in my life just as He permitted His Son to fall, then I must know there is good in that failure which my mind will never comprehend or my bruised pride will be slow to welcome..


Nevertheless, we also experience failure in the Christian life. We make mistakes, this said, plain failure is important in the spiritual life. Without failure we would never learn. Without failure God would never be able to really begin His work within us. Sometimes we have to fall to the ground, let the dust dirty our face, realize that we are dependent on Him for everything, reach out our hand to find his hand there to lift us up. How easy is it to want to remain on the ground so life can’t knock us down again but we have to get up? In the darkness and distress of suffering we can find a pearl of great price- a strength we never dreamed we could possess, a strength which seems to uphold us and by whose power our minds are made capable of the acceptance of suffering, not as a good in itself, but as a force for the good which it can inspire.

MLO'R