Get Back Up

***For the next two weeks, I will be steering my Lenten Blog Challenge into the direction of The Way of the Cross, also known as The Stations of the Cross, Via Crucis, and Via Dolorosa. These names are used to signify either a series of pictures or tableaux representing certain scenes in the Passion of Christ, each corresponding to a particular incident, or the special form of devotion connected with such representations. I will be posting a Station each day, then reflecting on that Station. To read more about the Way of the Cross, click HERE.

STATION VII: JESUS FALLS THE SECOND TIME

The Passover crowds press against him as Jesus makes His way through the narrow city streets. Every bump or collision with the crowd sends shock waves of pain throughout his body. His open wounds clot to the wood of the Cross. His Sacred Heart races, His blood pressure drops, and Jesus falls once again. How easy it would be to give up, but He did not. Overwhelmed not by pain but by love - the Father's love for us - Jesus presses on. He slowly rises, for He knows His walk is not yet done.

REFLECTION:

Most of the time we fall, it is because we choose to fall. It is because of sin. Sin is glamorous (that excessive meal we stuffed ourselves with, that affair we thought about having to escape our reality, the shame we avoided when we purposefully skipped confession and yet received The Holy Eucharist). Sin tricks us into thinking we have control, when we really only have some-- our free will. Even when we run away from Jesus, he is waiting and following us. As we run away, we fall into the arms of sin, and our choices lead to a storm-- a storm of suffering that we can't see through. Jesus tells us to trust in him because he can mold us into perfection. We are either clay or stone-- we are either malleable or not---if we are stone he will chisel away at us-- until we reach our potential; he will always be working on us--- we will be  molded one way or another-- the choice is up to us. He turns our tears into laughter and lifts us when we fall. Sin wants us to fall-- and stay there. God wants us to come to him. So get up. Brush yourself off. You aren't perfect and THAT'S OKAY!  Head to the confessional, the adoration chapel, or just kneel where you are. Make that call to your spiritual companion. Start that group. Free yourself. Deny the urge that all of us will encounter. Pray without ceasing! It is in the lowest point of sin that we decide to become our greatest. Don't settle for the fall. Remember: every Saint has a past--- every sinner has a future!