We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Reading

Psalm 37:23-24 New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition (NRSVACE)

Our steps are made firm by the Lord, when he delights in our way;
though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.

Meditation

Jesus’ humanity is at its last ebb.  He falls prostrate, the cross crashing down around, or even on top of him.  It looks as though this could be the end right here. Looking at the station so beautifully depicted here, though, I am reminded of prayer.  It reminds me of the prostration of the clergy at the start of the Good Friday Liturgy of the Passion, of the prostration that every priest must make at his ordination.  Even Jesus’ falling seems to be an act of submission; of love; of obedience to the Father’s will.  When we pray the Our Father and pray that “Thy will be done” it is easy to think of that as being for someone else rather than “in me”;  of, somehow, not requiring anything of me.  Yet, if I am truly prepared to let myself be humiliated (brought down to the ground) in order that God’s will be done in me, then Jesus shows me the way.

Question

Are my prayers a bit superficial and without real conviction?  Merely ‘suitable’ prayers that seem to say the right thing and make me feel more holy, or comfortable with myself?  Have I ever really prayed from the bottom of my heart?

Our Father………..Glory be……………Hail Mary………….

Prayer

Jesus, help me to be real in my prayers and in my obedience to your will.  Amen

Go to the Ninth station –