Stations of the Cross-2021
Twentieth Anniversary
Tenderloin Stations of the Cross
2021
Connecting With the Stations of the Cross
We are all standing in front of a life-size image of Christ on the cross. For most of my life, the stations in churches I’ve visited have been small paintings or wall carvings placed at intervals, but at Xavier they’re much larger panels, and I find myself connecting with the scenes in a new way. In the spirit of St. Ignatius, I imagine all of us as extensions of the image before us, truly present at the foot of the cross, standing beside those depicted in the scene, wondering what it means and what is in store. We are all at different places in our journeys, but united somehow, true companions. The stations of the cross no longer seem like boring repetition but like something closer to a journey. Perhaps what’s always frustrated me about the stations is that they cut too close to some of the struggles in my own spiritual life: the desire to keep moving forward rather than be still; the desire to skip the process and try to jump straight to the end, to that resurrection moment, where we get to celebrate; the desire to ignore or avoid the suffering along the way.
At the fourteenth station, the image of Jesus being placed in the tomb, my eyes are drawn up, to a separate image high above the stations. It is one of dozens of people being crucified, stretched out along a road toward the horizon. It is the first time I’ve noticed it, as I rarely stand in this part of the church. The juxtaposition of these images is striking. As Christ is being taken down from the cross, below, in the image above, those who have chosen to follow him continue to suffer. They are taking up his work, taking on the cross. And as we stand there, our own group is included in that tradition, all of us part of a long line of people in love with, pained by, suffering for, and taking part in the church. There can be a strange beauty in suffering, but, more important, there is beauty in having a community that helps us overcome it, to move forward toward that resurrection.
—Excerpted from Mercy in the City by Kerry Weber
How to do the Stations of the Cross. First, contemplate the image of each station unhurriedly, with a willingness to enter with heart and mind into such a mysterious drama.
Station I: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane:
36 Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” 37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”
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Loneliness
I too have known loneliness.
I too have known what it is to feel
misunderstood
rejected, and suddenly
not at all beautiful.
Oh, mother earth,
your comfort is great, your arms never
withhold.
It has saved my life to know this.
Your rivers flowing, your roses opening in
the morning.
Oh, motions of tenderness!
……………………………………………………………….
My name is Jamie, I sleep on the street, wherever I can find a spot. I have been sleeping on the street for years. People simply walk by me, not giving a glimpse; Churches are always locked, and shun me as well. I am always turned away. I feel totally alone.
Let us pray: (Moment of Silence): O God in your Son’s time of trial, he trusted in his apostles, his chosen religious leaders, his best friends, but they turned away; around him were people he had healed and love, and they turned away. We confess the number of times we have not heard the voice of Jesus in the cry of those who suffer in our alleys, doorways, parks, and our friends and neighbors.
Lord Jesus Christ, abused, abandoned, hear the cries of your wounded Universal Church, and strengthen us in our trial. We sometimes feel alone in the garden of life. Save us from disillusion and despair. Amen.
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It is a frightening prospect. To be entirely dispossessed of everything. One day, many years ago, we were told to leave our parish. I had nothing, an outcast, friends turned their backs. It was confusing that the church would completely turn its back over our struggles with our sexual orientation.
But it all lead to a greater intimacy with God in Christ. The path of dispossession became the path of a greater union, the body broken by suffering becomes the bread of a new intoxicating intimacy. We began to taste and see what saints and mystics have promised: a hidden wholeness, a font of living
We have tasted the hidden wholeness, as Jesus did, and we continue to struggle in the Garden with whether we should go forth, but if we let him Jesus will pull us out of ourselves and into the infinite abundance of divine life. Until then we hear his voice, “If any one wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,” so we it up, daily, and we follow. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
Station 2: Jesus, Betrayed by Judas, Is Arrested
Mark 14:43-46
Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested
43 And immediately, even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders. 44 The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. Then you can take him away under guard.” 45 As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. “Rabbi!” he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss.
46 Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him.
DON’T HESITATE
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give into it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be.
We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can
never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left.
Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the
riches and power in the world. It could be
anything, but very likely you notice it in the very
instant when love begins. Anyway, that is often
the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
At first their attention made me feel special, giving me a Bible, they talked to me, gave me food, then walked on, promising to come back again. And later passing again me did not speak, laughing with each other. I was erased from their world.
O God, friends of your Son Jesus betrayed him with a sign reserved for love. We confess the times we have confused our promises with true love. Lord Jesus Christ, betrayed by the one you trusted, look upon your broken people. Let us be mindful of our words, for those words represent you. Amen.
One night, walking by a young man I had known for a number of years he called out. Shane was obviously suffering from over dosing. I called 911, administered Nar can, and the final rites. He died on his way to the hospital. Many people walked by him happy, laughing those last hours as he lay in the doorway, no one noticing, or when they did, simply walked on. I am reminded of those moments as I walk the streets in any city and someone calls out, and remember our call is to hear and respond regardless of how we feel at the moment. For a betrayal of anyone is a betrayal of Jesus. Amen.
Pray the first two stations each day, entering into the moment, taking the part of one person or another, in your imagination become one person, see yourself responding, feel the fear, and then do the same with imaging walking down the street viewing a homeless person in the door.
Station 3: Jesus is Condemned by the Sanhedrin
“At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, and they said, “Tell us are you the Messiah?”
“But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. And if I ask you a question, you want answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.”
They all shouted, “So you are claiming to be the Son of God?”
“And he replied, “You say that I am.”
“Why do we need other witnesses?” they said, “We ourselves heard him say it.” (Luke 22:66-71)
I WORRIED
I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the
rivers flow in the right direction will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not, how shall I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imaging it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?
Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And I gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning and sang.
I have been having a recurring dream these weeks. I am in the hospital, an aged and useless man, a waiting to receive the drug that will end my misery, and die in peace. Papers are signed, now I a wait. I am counting the minutes.
And I dream of Zach, Lake, Cindy, the hundreds of homeless youth, I have loved and care for through the years. Around me are people who have reminded me of failure, not being successful—not making bread out of stones, not being spectacular—not leaving a legacy of a great organization, and being powerful, having others under me. I will die, and be forgotten.
And in the dream the face of Jesus appears, saying: “You serve me, you are mine, get up, follow me.
And I see myself arising, and speaking for all of us saying to those making the accusations: “No,” Because God’s way is not to be relevant, or spectacular, or powerful. God’s way is downward. Blessed are the humble. Blessed are the poor of heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. I choose the way of Jesus. He invites us to create the Table of Intimacy” described by Henri Nouwen, and so condemn me, so be it, I choose this way and invite others to follow:
“The table is the place of intimacy. Around the table we discover each other. It’s the place where we pray. It’s the place where we ask: “How was your day?” It’s the place where we eat and drink together and say: “Come on, take some more!” It is the place of old and new stories. It is the place of smiles and tears. This table, to, is the place were distance is most painfully felt. It is the place where tension between parents, where brothers and sisters express their anger and jealousies; where accusations are made, and where plates and cups become instruments of violence. Around the table, we know whether there is friendship and community or hatred and division. Precisely because the table is the place of intimacy for all the members of the household, it is also the place where the absence of that intimacy is most painfully revealed.”
O God, let my worries of failure, age, death, and not being liked go, and enable me to choose to sit at the “The Table of Intimacy” where the condemnation of the Sanhedrin matters not. I will rise from the bed, and look the culture of death in the eye and say loudly “Go to hell!”. For we choose to suffer until all are brought into the intimacy of friendship with you through the Crucified One, and all are brothers and sisters, in community together. In the name of Jesus, Street Person and Rebel, we pray. Amen and Amen!
You Turn:
In your imagination enter into the story of Jesus being condemned. Choose being a member of the Sanhedrin, feel their anger, disgust, and their fear of change, and new life. Look at the face of Jesus, and see his courage, his steadfastness, and condemn him; Switch places: enter into being Jesus, looking back at the past three years, and in your heart you hear the voice of your Father, “all will be well,” knowing that in the resurrection you will bring new life. Choose which road you will take, the one to death or to new life. Take your old body out into the morning and sing.”
Station 4: Jesus Is Denied by Peter
Matthew 26:69-75
Peter Disowns Jesus
69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.
70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”
74 Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
THE POET COMPARES HUMAN NATURE TO
THE OCEAN FROM WHICH HE CAME
“The sea can do craziness, it can do smooth,
it can lie down like silk breathing
or toss havoc shoreward; it can give
gifts or withhold all; it can rise, ebb, froth
like an incoming frenzy of fountains, or it can
sweet-talk entirely. As I can too,
and so, no doubt, can you and you.”
Mary Oliver
As Mary Oliver points out in her poem we “Peter”, we are indecisive, moving from one point of view to another, dependent up on our moods, and whether or not it is in our best interests. We deny Jesus all the time.
We deny Jesus when we judge others by their race, creed, color, economic status, where they live, what they believe, and age;
We deny Jesus each time we walk by a homeless person on the street and pay no attention;
We deny Jesus when we allow our church buildings and institutional buildings be shut in the face of housing those who have no room in which to sleep;
We deny Jesus when we fail to provide health care for the homeless;
We deny Jesus when we fail to see beyond ourselves to the needs of all people around us.
We are all Peter’s, and the question is do we open our hearts, see our sins of denial and like Peter: “weep bitterly?”
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Your Turn:
Enter into the story, become Peter, feel faced with fear of reprisal for knowing Jesus, feel fear with letting yourself argue for the opening up of your church building/or institutional building for letting the homeless sleep; fear of speaking and offering food to a homeless person; fear of their age, race, religion; and most importantly fear of their humanity. Awake to your denial and weep. Sit for ten minutes as Peter. Sit for ten minutes as Jesus. What words do you hear from Jesus? What does ask you to do?
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Station 5: Jesus is Judged by Pilate
THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER
As long as you’re dancing, you can
break the rules.
Sometimes breaking the rules is just
Extending the rules.
Sometimes there are no rules.
Station 5: Jesus is Judged by Pilate
THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER
As long as you’re dancing, you can
break the rules.
Sometimes breaking the rules is just
Extending the rules.
Sometimes there are no rules
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Mark
15:1-5; 15: Very early in the morning the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law—the entire high council[a]—met to discuss their next step. They bound Jesus, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.
2 Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus replied, “You have said it.”
3 Then the leading priests kept accusing him of many crimes, 4 and Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer them? What about all these charges they are bringing against you?” 5 But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate’s surprise.. . . .
15 So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified."
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Pilate is "everyman"--for all of us will turn Jesus over to be crucified at one time or another. Like Pilate, we all know what is right, and yet we choose to please the crowd and do the wrong thing.
--We fail to feed a person sitting on the street saying that it is the government's or a non-profit's responsibility;
--We fail to speak to someone different than we are--because they are of a different color, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, or economic status;
--We fail to acknowledge that homelessness has many different tenants and it will grow until we cut back on our own way of living and advocate for more involvement by our churches, government, and ourselves.;
--We fail to acknowledge the culture of "nomads"-senior citizens who live in campers on the road because they can not afford any other way of living due to our society's high costs.
Let us pray:
O, God, no one defended your son, Jesus, while others lied about him. We confess our silence in the face of homelessness that crucifies the Body of Christ--open our hearts that we too may speak the Truth to Power for homelessness, and others in need, and that in speaking that truth we may move out into the world in service. Amen.
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Station 6: Jesus is Scourged and Crowned with Thorns
“Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. “Hail, King of the Jews” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.” John 19:1-3.
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WE SHAKE WITH JOY
“We shake with joy, we shake with grief.
What a time they have, these two
housed as they are in the same body.”
We hear the cries of those who are homeless, sexually and physically abused; we hear the cries of the “dispossessed”, and their words penetrate our hearts: “The pain is so intense I do not want to live.”
Let us pray:
We sit smug in our apartments and homes, we have plenty to eat, clothes to wear, and we fail to see Jesus being scourged before our very eyes in the person in our doorways; we fail to listen to young men and women who cry out in their pain of hunger, loneliness, and pain of abuse; we flog you each time we fail to listen.
O flogged and mocked Jesus let us acknowledge both the pain and the joy in our bodies, and work to bring joy for others out of that pain so that others may live. Amen.
Station 7: Jesus Bears the Cross
“When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him, crucify him.”…….”Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him!” “What crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back. Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself. .”
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“If God exists he isn’t just churches and mathematics.
He’s the forest, He’s the desert.
He’s the ice caps, that are dying.
He’s the ghetto and the Museum of Fine Arts… . ..
And still, pressed into my mind, the river
keeps coming, touching me, passing on its
long journey, its pale, infallible voice
singing. From: AT THE RIVER CLARION”
We are to love everyone, to exclude no one. The rich man must love the poor man, but the poor man must love the rich man.
We are to love those who hate us-those who are indifferent to us. Most baffling of all—those whom we do not know, whom we shall never meet on this earth.
This intense self-giving love is to be given to them. The mystery deepens when we think of who those people are, the mystery deepens-when called to love:
-Criminals— regardless of their crime
-homeless, the thousands ignored on our streets; the many known by the name “displaced persons”;
-peopled forced into labor camps, and slavery.
We have difficulty thinking of them, we put them out of our minds.
Jesus carries the cross for all of them, for all who suffer, the displaced, the homeless—He carries that cross for us. Jesus carries the cross to enable change us, to give us the ability to give self-giving love, not expecting anything in return.
He calls us into a closer and more real identification with him.
The Examin
The Word
And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
—Matthew 6:5-8
Reflect
I am created in the image of a God who is One. I am unique. The Father loves me personally. I thank God for who I am.
1. Give Thanks. I thank God for this day, for my life, for all I am and have, and for His Word.
2. Pray for Light. I ask the Father to let me see my day as the Holy Spirit sees it, and to show me what I need to see.
3. Find God. I look at my day in the light of the Spirit.
What I have done?
Did I do what I had planned?
What happened that wasn’t planned? How did I respond?
What did my heart tell me?
4. Anything Wrong?
Have I been anxious? Sad? Focused on myself?
Does something in a relationship need to be addressed?
Have I been ungrateful?
5. What Now?
What do I need from God today?
What do I need to do today? Tomorrow?
Prayer
When I go now to my inner room,
God my Father, Creator of my inmost self,
I go with ashes on my forehead and in my soul
for what I have done
and for the little love I return to You.
Is it repentance enough that I accept as mine
the burden laid on all of us by all of us?
May I embrace as my own and offer to You
the sufferings of the world that invade my day—
the child in terror, the man without work,
the woman wrapped in oppression and disdain?
Let me feel the grief that weighed like lead on Jesus’ heart
and know His unyielding love for me.
Amen.
Station 8: Jesus Is Helped by Simon the Cyrenian to Carry the Cross
WITH THANKS TO THE FIELD SPARROW, WHOSE VOICE IS SO DELICATE AND SO HUMBLE
I do not live happily or comfortably
with the cleverness of our times.
The talk is all about computers,
the news is all about bombs and blood.
This morning, in the fresh field,
I came upon a hidden nest.
It held four warm, speckled eggs.
I touched them.
Then went away softly,
having felt something more wonderful
than all the electricity of New York City.
Station 9: Jesus Meets the Women in Jerusalem
“And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know?
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.” (from:
TO BEGIN WITH, THE SWEET GRASS).
“Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem. .. (Luke 23:27-31.”
“I cannot love myself. How can I love anyone love me? I am dirty, I use fentanyl. I smell. I sleep on the streets –I am spit upon, I am used for sex—how can anyone love me? I want to be loved by my mom?” The women love Jesus, so may we love the children of the street.
Station 10: Jesus Is Crucified.
“When they came to the placed called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one. Then Jesus said: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:33-34).
Love Deeply: Fr. Henri Nouwen
“Do not hesitate to love to love deeply. You might be afraid of the pain that deep love can cause. When those you love deeply reject you, leave you, or die, your heart will be broken. But that should not hold you back from loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes your love even more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root and grow into a strong plant. Every time you experience the pain of rejection, absence, or death, you are faced with a choice. You can become bitter and decide not to love again, or you can stand straight in your pain and let the soil on which you stand become richer and more able to give life to new seeds.”
The crucifixion of Jesus is a sign of people failing to see his love for all humanity. It is a sign of people failing to look people in the eyes and see them as brothers and sisters.
We are crucifying Christ when we deny people housing, food, clothing, and health care.
We are crucifying Jesus when we felt to recognize the differences, the queerness of people.
We are crucifying Jesus when we fail to stand with the oppressed, and instead sit in judgment.
We are crucifying people when we sit in silence as the hammer of hatred and prejudice is brought down upon them.
Let us pray in silence. ( Reflect upon how you crucify people?)
Station 11: Jesus Promises His Kingdom to the Good Thief.
“One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed. “So you’re the Messiah, “are you?”. . . .But the other criminal hanging beside him protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?. We deserve to die for our crimes but his man has not done anything wrong. Then he said, Jesus remember me when you have come into your kingdom.” And Jesus responded, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise. Luke 23:39-43).”
AFTER READING LUCRETIUS, I GO TO THE POND
The slippery green frog
That went to his death
in the heron’s pink throat
was my small brother,
and the heron
with the white plumes
like a crown on his head
who is washing now his great sword-beak
in the shining pond
is my tall thin brother.
My heart dresses in black
and dances.
We judge, it is a part of our makeup, and our judging is so black and white. We see a homeless youth and look at our own lives, and say, if we had been homeless, “I made it, why can’t they get off their ass and get a job?”, never considering their circumstances; or for those of us given opportunities we look down upon them and call them “trash”, “lazy”, never considering where they come from and the difficulties faced in society.
All of us are one of the “thieves”, and we can be the “the good thief,” or the “bad thief,”, but God loves each one of us and calls us to love without judgement and expectation. Redemption and wholeness comes through loving with our whole hearts.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, reviled and misunderstood, we hear around us the scorn of homeless youth, and adult homeless, they are reviled. That anger is on the rise. When we tremble at the sounds of anger on the rise, act with justice for us and for them. Turn our ears toward your cross to hear of promised Paradise. Amen.
Station 12: Jesus Speaks to His Mother and the Disciple
25” Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home. John 19:25-27).”
VERANAS!
Early in the morning we crossed the ghat,
Where fires were still smoldering,
and gazed with our Western minds, into the Ganges.
A woman was standing in the river up to her waist,
She was lifting handfuls of water and spilling it
over her body, slowly and many times,
as if until there came some moment
of inner satisfaction between her own life and the river’s.
Then she dipped a vessel she had brought with her
and carried it filled with water back across the ghat,
no doubt to refresh some shrine near where she lives,
for this is the holy city of Shiva, maker
of the world, and this is his river.
I can’t say much more, except that it all happened
in silence and peaceful simplicity, and something that felt
like the bliss of a certainty and a life lived
in accordance with that certainty.
I must remember this, I thought, as we fly back
to America.
Pray God I remember this.
Listening to Jesus I am sure that Mary had mixed emotions, of grief, and pain in the suffering of her son. I see John reaching out to embrace her as his mother, and in fact as the Mother of Us All.
And in the words of Mary Oiver:
“I can’t say much more, except that it all happened
in silence and peaceful simplicity, and something that felt
like the bliss of a certainty and a life lived
in accordance with that certainty.
I must remember this, I thought, as we fly back
to America. Pray God remember this!
In silence put yourself in that scene, embrace Mary as your mother, and as our mother, hear her cries for justice.
Station 13: Jesus Dies On the Cross and Jesus Is Laid In His Tomb
Luke 23:44-46; Matthew 2:57-60
DO STONES FEEL
“Do stones feel?
Do they love their life?
Or does their patience drown out
everything else?
When I walk on the beach I gather a few
white stones, dark ones, the
multiple colors.
Don’t worry, I say, I’ll bring you back, and I
do.
Is the tree as it rises as it rises delighted with its
many
branches,
each one like a poem?
Are the clouds glad to unburden their
bundles of rain?
Most of the world says no, no, it’s not
possible.
I refuse to think it such a conclusion.
Too terrible it would be, to be wrong.”
Jesus struggled to breathe, pulling himself up to let air in to his lungs. As he hung on the cross he spoke of mercy and love, forgiving the thief and his enemies. With his last breath he died.
As we have moved through the Tenderloin we have seen people selling drugs, begging for food, sleeping in the doorways and in the alley's. We see life, and we see death.
We see Jesus being laid in his tomb. As we picture this scene, let us place the image of the empty tomb before our eyes. Whenever we stand outside of any tomb, and grieve remember this empty tomb, and know that through the eyes of faith, all tombs are empty. Through the eyes of faith we can become Christ and empty the tombs of hunger, homelessness, meaningless, and want.
Oscar Romero speaks to us in these moments:
"We live in a time of struggle between truth and lies, between sincerity, which almost no one believes still, and hypocrisy and intrigue. Let's not be afraid brothers and sisters; let's try to be sincere, to love truth; let's try to model ourselves on Christ Jesus. It is time for us to have a great sense of selection, of discernment."
How will we practice Christ Jesus' way of love, justice, and truth this day? How can we be small pebbles in the world?
Join me in signing ourselves with the sign of his cross, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. We adore you Oh Christ and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world. Amen.
Let Us Pray:
6 Though he was God,[a]
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:6-11
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Pray the Stations Thourhg Lent! They bring us into the presence of the Suffering Jesus and our own suffering!
Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min.,
P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org
415-305-2124