The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery

The Carrying of the Cross

By May/June 2009

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Bearing the cross

“Then the soldiers led Jesus away, and as they were going, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon who was coming into the city from the country. They seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.” Luke 23:26

Reflection

Jesus must now undergo this final humiliat­ing ordeal. He is forced to carry the cross to the Place of the Skull, Golgotha, where he will be crucified. Weakened by torture, he falls sev­eral times. A man, Simon, is made to help him. Women cry for him. Veronica wipes sweat and blood from his face. He is overburdened. Death awaits him.

The cross symbolizes our relationships. The vertical shaft represents our relationship with God: it links the earthly with the heavenly. We remain rooted in the earth, in reality, but we dream on high, imaging new possibilities. We lift our hearts to God in praise and supplication. The horizontal shaft represents our relationship to others. We must stretch out our arms to reach our sisters and brothers. Loving others involves effort and pain.

Jesus lived all his relationships intensely. He knew God intimately, as son to father. Jesus called him Daddy, Abba. He spent frequent peri­ods in prayerful conversation with his Father. Jesus also reached out to all he met. He sought friendship with outcasts. He healed the sick and comforted the weary. He called those who oppressed others to change their ways. This was the cross he bore: his love for the Creator, and his love for his sisters and brothers.

What is my cross? Has my cross changed over the years? How do I experience my relationship with God? How do I live my relationship with others? Can I bear the pain of stretching out my arms to them? Do I feel them grasp my hand?

Mission Call

All missionaries encounter an initial cross of culture shock, of becom­ing accustomed to a new people and a new way of being, thinking, and feeling. The process is painful. But then all missionaries soon real­ize that the people we serve bear much heavier crosses: poverty, illness, exploitation, persecution.

As we pray about the cross, let us ask God to strengthen those weighed down by their burdens. Let us pray for the Simons who help others bear the weight of their suffering. Let us remember the Veronicas who allevi­ate the pain of others, especially physical illness. Let us dream of a world where poverty has been eradicated.

Amazon Word

One year I visit our diocesan semi­narians in Manaus at semester’s end. I attend a class where groups present results from their study of social prob­lems in this jungle city of two million people. Situations such as the unem­ployed, street gangs, and drug traffick­ing are talked about. One report shocks me: child prostitution at a shopping mall. Young adolescent girls sell them­selves to middle-age men, earning in a day as much as a thousand dollars, five times what they could earn in a month on minimum wage. Some par­ents even support their daughter’s work, as it guarantees income for the family. What a cross for these young girls to bear. What desperation poverty creates. What need there is for healing.

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