"In the traditional Stations of the Cross written by St. Alphonsus Liguori, Jesus falls three times as he carries his Cross on the road to Calvary. It's a brutal, painful scene to contemplate. Jesus, exhausted from the betrayal and battering, the torture and trials he has suffered, is forced to carry the heavy cross, the instrument of his own death, through a hateful, jeering crowd, to the place of his public execution. Each time he fell, he was even weaker, drained of strength. How much pain he must have felt, crushed to the ground with the weight of the Cross landing on his bruised and broken body.
"And yet, Jesus didn't
stay down. When he fell, Jesus got up again and continued the sacred
journey, the journey that would lead to his death, yes, but also to his
ultimate vindication and glory. . . ."
In a recent commentary, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, of the Diocese of Providence
(RI), reflected on this example of Jesus for us when we fall during our earthly pilgrimage and its encouragement to get up and keep walking.
To access Bishop Tobin's complete essay, please visit:
The Imitation of Christ: How Often We Fall (25 MAR 21)
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