III. Jesus falls.
Behold the wood of the Cross…
Pause and hold your heart and the world in your hands.
Jesus falls. It was bound to happen—all things considered. After spending a sleepless night in prison, all of last night’s interrogations and beatings—He was dragged all over Jerusalem this morning, scourged and crowned with thorns!
His body could only take so much. At a certain point, it was bound to way; it was bound to give. Under the weight of that cross, His knees buckled and His body couldn’t help but give in to gravity.
It can be pretty exhausting trying to defy gravity. It’s so much easier to surrender to it.
But that’s the last thing He does. Even if His body wants to give up, He doesn’t. He gets up. He rises picks up that cross—even if there’s no one’ there to cheer Him on, even if most of the voices in that mob are actually jeering at Him.
We know the feeling, don’t we? Remember those times we fell on our face and all we wanted to do was to stay down and give up?
Today, the Lord Jesus reminds us:
When we feel down and alone, He totally gets us! And we are not alone. He is always with us—especially when we feel like we’re going through hell.
And this is what He tells us:
Don’t give in. Don’t give up. Get up and defy this gravity.
We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to our loved ones. We owe it the world. We owe it to Him.
Spend a few moments recalling the times you wanted to give up. Maybe that’s how you’re feeling now. Listen to what the Lord wants to tell you through the words of this song, “Rise Up.“
Feel free to share your thoughts, questions, and prayers below.
Feel free to share your thoughts, questions, and prayers below.
3 replies on “The Third Station”
4 years ago, I was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer stage IV. For sometime, I felt my whole world crumbled. I kept on begging God to extend my life because I still have my growing son to take care of being a solo parent. By God’s grace, He rose me up. He heard my pleas. He blessed me with a supportive family and great friends, and strangers as I walked through the path of darkness. I didn’t have any repeat laboratory tests yet and I didn’t go thru chemo since I was told by my doctor there was no protocol that was for my type of cancer and nobody among his clients has survived for a year. With this, I changed my lifestyle: food intake, my disposition and most of all my relationship with God.
Now, as I am about to reach 5 years next year, I am asking anyone who is reading this to pray for me. Yes, I am grateful to God for having reached this far but fear still sometimes engulf me.
My dad is terminally ill and this just makes me surrender to the Lord’s will but at the same time hope for the best. Thank you Jesus for allowing my dad to carry his cross beside you.
Thank You Kuya Yeshua, for rising up for me, inspite of that unbearable ache. And I know You will do it a thousand times again. 🥹💗
Thanks for this Fr. J. 💕