STATION V: Jesus Is Helped by Simon the Cyrene to Carry His Cross

Before the station, pray: I adore you, O Christ, and I bless you, because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.


Read Mark 16: 15-22
Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort…Then they led him out to crucify him. They compelled a passerby, who was coming in from the country, to carry the cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the
                                                       place of a skull).

We really know very little about Simon—is he black, brown, white, olive-skinned? Does it matter? He was from Libya—a foreigner to the city of Jerusalem. Anonymously plucked out of the crowd to help a bleeding dying man, he stooped and hoisted the cross that Jesus was carrying to his own shoulder. Even at this late hour, God has orchestrated a Divine reversal in what the world expected.

We are asked to contemplate how we are being asked to help Jesus carry the cross. This means letting go of all of our fears, our prejudices, and justifications that hold us back from connecting with others, from completing the circle of God’s creation that is love. Father, forgive.

Jesus, may I be the one that carries your cross, that steps forward into the difficult venues of your love. In the name of the One who shows me what it means to be your Disciple. Amen.