Living Stations of the Cross

This past Tuesday of Holy Week, the students at the Catholic school of my Parish performed the Living Stations of the Cross for the congregation that had gathered. Many parents had their phones out, recording and taking pictures of their children in costume. Having that day off from work, of course I planned to attend. It was such a moving performance to see. It filled my heart with joy to see all those children living in the faith. As they performed the Stations, I could not help but wonder if we, as adults, are living the Stations in our lives.

I’d like to think that we all “live” the Stations in our own way. As I watched the performance, I looked back on my life, trying to identify how I could compare my life to the pain and suffering our Lord went through. Yes, I have experienced betrayal and much pain, physical and emotional, but I came to the realization that all the slings and arrows life had thrown at me pale in comparison to what our Messiah went through for all of us.

It pains me to know that I, along with all of humanity, will never truly know what Jesus went through to bring us Salvation. We may have some idea, some may have studied for years about our Lord and Savior, but we will never truly grasp how much our Lord went through.

I do know this much…the live performance was cute to watch. When they reached the three Stations when Jesus fell under the weight of the cross, even though I knew it was just a kid reenacting the part, I felt sorry and I so wanted to stand, run up, and help the child up. Of course, I didn’t because it was just a play, the kid was ok. It made me wonder though: would I have helped Jesus up if I was there when he was crucified. Would any of us? Would any of us take up the part of Simon of Cyrene, like the child actor in the live performance I watched?

I’ve recently come to realize that, even though it is impossible for us to physically travel back in time to help our Lord, we can help Him now in the present. Each time when I pray the Stations of the Cross, I ask Jesus to let me help Him, to ease some of His suffering. I like to think that He answered me, through a rather uplifting thought I had. I can help ease some of Jesus’ suffering and torment by offering my personal pains and sufferings. One pain I offer up every day is my back pain.

Years ago, I used to work for a construction company that was owned and operated by my older brother’s friend. My brother was our foreman. I was the Clean-Up crew. One day, at a job site, I had to climb up into the back of the dump truck we had to make room for more scrap and torn shingles from a roofing job. The dump truck was old and had wooden side boards to hold in all the scrap. I was holding onto one of those side boards while rearranging the scrap. The board I was holding broke, and I fell backwards. I landed on my back in the middle of the driveway. The was the first time I fell that day.

The second time I fell that day, a bundle of shingles slid off the roof and hit me in the back of my head. Third time I fell was because of an asthma attack. Yeah, that job was dangerous to my health. I kept pushing forward though because we needed to get the job done. I would just get back up and continue with my work. To me, personally, I felt that getting the new roof finished was more important.

Like I said, this pales in comparison to what our Lord went through. Jesus, though He fell three times and was getting weaker each time He fell, got back up to continue His work, bringing us our Salvation and forgiveness for our sins. I also think that He still suffers for us, like I still suffer from back pain because of that day at the construction site.

Even though I used a physical example from my life, we should see if we can identify how we may have lived our own stations spiritually. We should all try our best to connect with our Lord, to put ourselves in His place on the cross in whatever way we can. In doing so, and by trying our best to stay away from sin, I believe that we can all help relieve Jesus of some of his pain.