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January 31, 2019Today, we walked the Way of the Cross throughout the streets f Jerusalem. Many of us grew up praying the Stations of the Cross on Fridays during Lent, but it was incredible to pray the prayers while walking the path Christ walked during Holy Week.
We venereated the spot where the cross rested on Calvary, and Father Ric celebrated Mass at the tomb where Christ was buried. After three hours of suffering, nailed to the cross, Christ called out, “It is finished.”
These words echo throughout salvation history.
“Three times these words are used in Sacred Scripture: at the beginning of the world, at the end, and in-between,” explained Archbishop Fulton Sheen. “In creation, the heavens and the earth are described as ‘finished.’ At the end of the world, a Great Voice is heard coming from the temple, saying: ‘It is finished.’ And now, from the Cross, it is heard again. The word does not mean, ‘Thank God, it is over.’ It means it is perfected; the debt has been paid, the work that Our Lord had come to do had been completed.”
We have a God who walked among us, his feet passing by the streets the pilgrims walked this morning. He shed blood for us, exhausted, beaten, bruised.
What does our cross look like? What cross has the Lord asked us to pick up and carry with him?
“Most lives are frustrated because they have left the cross,” Archbishop Fulton Sheen continued. “They think the endless day of eternity can be won without the crucial hour of Calvary . . . In the spiritual life, there is a conscious, deliberate process: the application of the hour of Christ’s Passion to ourselves, that we may share in His Resurrection.”
Heavenly Father, strengthen me to carry my cross and journey towards you. Redeem my suffering so that it can glorify you. In moments of trial, remind me that you, too, have walked this path and that I am not alone.