There is one thing of which we can all boast,"
said Saint Francis of Assisi, "we can boast of our
humiliations and in taking up daily the Holy Cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Indeed, no one is free from the trials and
tribulations of the world. Everyone knows his or her
own humiliations. However, who takes up their crosses daily?
The Stations of the Cross are not an obsession with
suffering and death. On the contrary, they point to the
Mystery of the Cross which expresses the deepest and fullest
manifestation of love and life. Countless saints and scholars
have written tomes about the life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. Yet, none of them have begun to plumb the depths
of His Most Sacred Passion. His suffering and death also shows
us how to carry our crosses daily. Consequently, the Stations
of the Cross are not merely Lenten devotions. Saint Augustine
writes that "there is no more profitable occupation for the
soul than to meditate daily on the Passion of Our Lord."
Every station is an event. Each one commemorates a milestone
in Jesus Christ's suffering and death. However, each station
represents moments of our moral and physical suffering too.
Have we not felt loneliness and abandonment, fear and betrayal,
terror and pain, ridicule and torment, desolation and death?
Have we not contributed to these very agonies in other people?
Every station addresses the problems of pain and evil in our world.
Each one speaks to our own lives, our own struggles, our own sorrows,
our own sins, and our own salvation. Each station has a salvific meaning.
Of course, the Way of the Cross is not a morality tale.
Yet, the protagonists and the antagonists resonate in our
own time. We learn many important lessons by meditating on
the scriptures and oral traditions about them. However,
Jesus Christ provides the ultimate example. Saint Paul observes
in Hebrews 12:3, "Consider how He endured such opposition from
sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart."
Jesus Christ said "No servant is greater than his master.
If they persecute Me, they will persecute you." (John 15:20)
However, by meditating on His suffering and death, we find the
courage not only to take up our crosses, but also to unite our
agonies to His Bitter Passion. Then, our sorrows and struggles
have redemptive value. Our pains become occasions of salvation.
Thus, the Triumph of the Cross radically transforms our lives.
It unites us to Him. It teaches compassion. It gives us the
"peace of God that surpasses all understanding." (Philippians 4:7)
We will go on "even to the point of shedding blood." (Hebrews 12:4)
Jesus Christ told us that "In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
The Psalmist proudly proclaims, "Weeping comes in the night, but at
dawn there is rejoicing." (Psalm 30:5) Hopefully, we too can breathe
Our Savior's last words in faith, hope, and love: "It is finished."
(John 19:30)
