Thomas Griffin 3/8/24
Join Our Email List
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Read “Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine”
Each Friday this Lent we will investigate and reflect on two out of the fourteen Stations of the Cross. This is an ancient practice that desires to make contact with what it would have been like to walk with Jesus on that Good Friday two thousand years ago. Lent is all about gaining more access to the events of Jesus’ life, especially those that revolve around his suffering.
Traditionally, there has always been an invitation from the Church to make Fridays different for just that reason. Friday was the day that Christ died. It is a holy day that beckons to the world for notice. Not because God needs us to notice Him in order to be fulfilled but simply because ignorance of his passion leads to an empty life.
Today we will continue our journey by looking at the seventh and eighth Stations of the Cross where Jesus falls for a faithless generation.
Seventh Station of the Cross: Jesus Falls a Second Time
Jesus fell at the beginning of his journey. Now, even after encountering his mother, Veronica and having the aid of Simon of Cyrene…he falls again. The weight and burden of the cross must have been overwhelming.
Have you ever attempted to lift something physical and had to try several times to do so? Have you ever been burdened with the weight of some emotional stress or pain that just felt impossible to carry? Are there people in your life that you wish would know Christ more and it pains you that they don’t?
In all of these instances we are invited to channel the power of Christ on his way to the cross of Calvary. Whatever pain or stress we carry, we do not do so alone. Jesus knew what it was like to feel like you physically cannot go on. He knew what it was like to fall again and again. As he was on the ground, with his bloodied face in the sand, he thought of you and what you are going through.
Jesus wants us to know that he had us in mind when he endured the struggle of the cross because it is in that knowledge that we know we do not stumble in our struggle alone. When we are exhausted we are invited to look into his eyes and see that the God of the universe knows what it is like to face difficulties that appear insurmountable. Keep your eyes on him in the struggle and you’ll be given the power and faith to endure anything.
Eighth Station of the Cross: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
The holy women of Jerisalem mourn over the agony of Jesus that they are viewing. They are weeping at the torture he is enduring. When Jesus meets them he says, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28).
Christ seems to think that the suffering he is enduring is not as bad as the times that will come in the future when the faith is rejected and denied. The pain Jesus is receiving from the sin of the world will be ignored and forgotten by the world. He sees it as a worse pain that the future generations will know what he did but not care that he did it. So, weep for them and not for him, he says.
This line of Christ on his way to the cross is the longest one we have. It should, in many ways, shake us to the core. Do we ever neglect the pain he experienced because of our sin? Do we ever take his cross and passion for granted? Can we do a more intentional job giving focus and attention to what he endured out of reckless love for you and for me?
As God falls a second time under the weight of the cross and meets those who mourn his pain, let us heed his words to show him our love by being with him in suffering. Then the way of the cross will truly transform us.
Thomas Griffin is the chairperson of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island where he lives with his wife and two sons. He has a masters degree in theology and is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine.
Join Our Email List
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Empty Tomb Project 