On Jesus’ carrying his Cross and being led to the place known as Calvary
On Jesus’ carrying his Cross and being led to the place known as Calvary
LORD JESUS CHRIST, true Vine, Way of life, and our Salvation, I bless and thank you for carrying your heavy and ignominious Cross before all those bystanders. Patiently and humbly you bore it for the redemption of the entire human race, that you might carry on your shoulders the long-sought and after-much-difficulty-found lost sheep to your heavenly home.
I praise and honor you, eminent Standard Bearer of the Christian army, for your sad and pitiful treatment, when that heavy wooden Cross was cruelly placed upon you, and when you were shamefully led through that renowned city, where earlier you had made yourself known by your preaching and miracles. At the time when the crowd’s fury and bitterness grew more and more intense against you, you were condemned to be suspended from the tallest Cross between two despicable men, as if you were a common thief or a leader of brigands.
Wonderful Jesus, I praise and glorify you for your difficult and troublesome setting out on that most unusual journey, which you undertook for us. I praise you for each and every step you took on your way, for the great weariness your body felt—already weakened by torture—and for the hardship you endured in going up and down that winding road under the burden of your Cross. I praise you for your being forced forward and being treated roughly by those who had charge over you—when you were told to move ahead, they either cruelly pushed you from behind or pulled you forward from the front. You were manhandled in every way. Bent over and weighed down under that insupportable burden, you made your way to the place called Calvary. Never before had you made such a journey! Never before had you walked so rough a road! Never before had you carried such a yoke!
I praise and highly exalt you for your being so greatly despised by those vile men, leading, dragging, and insulting you. I praise you for the many disrespectful words hurled against you as you made your way, for the lying and derogatory remarks made against your innocence, and for the rude rejoicing of your enemies looking forward to your cruel death and their arrogant joy in awaiting your shameful crucifixion.
Amid all these horrors you meekly went on as a lamb on its way to sacrifice, all the while thinking of our salvation, grieving over the blindness of your people, and deploring the wickedness of those prodding you onward.
I praise and bless you for the heartfelt love shown by your friends, who shed abundant and compassionate tears on your behalf, and for the devoted following of the sorrowing women, who wept bitterly and followed your every step with heads bowed low. Turning toward them, you assuaged their mournful sobs with these comforting words: Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, rather weep for yourselves and your children. If they do this in the green wood, what will they do in the dry?1
How great the mourning of all your dear ones, especially the lamentation of the holy women, who, since they were unable to get near enough to comfort you or to save you from so terrible a death, kept looking upon you with profound feelings of compassion.
How overwhelming the sorrow that claimed the maternal feelings of the Virgin Mary and caused her to tremble, when she saw her beloved and only Son with the Cross on his back and being led to his death! How willingly your Blessed Mother, the most loving Virgin Mary, would have endured the shame of the Cross if she had been permitted to take your place, and how quickly she would have chosen to die in your stead if she knew this would have been acceptable to you. What she could not bear in her body—nor was she permitted to—she mentally bore and this most profoundly. Because her love was so ardent, her sorrow was greater and her affliction more severe; in a true sense she carried the Cross with you.
Into the hearts of none of those who loved you, did your sorrow so penetrate as into the loving soul of your Virgin Mother, endowed as she was with such exceptional love. Nor is there any doubt that Mary Magdalen, who loved you with a most fervent love—though almost enfeebled because of her profuse shedding of tears—would have, because of an onrush of love, willingly taken hold of your Cross together with your Virgin Mother and gladly carried it in your place.
In addition to the sufferings that you endured from exterior causes, your interior anguish of soul was compounded by the defection of your disciples, your Mother’s sorrow, the anxiety of those who had given up hope in your Resurrection, as well as the fact that your suffering proved a stumbling block to many. While the faith of many individuals was shaken or lost, the sole exception was that of the glorious Virgin.
Disciple of Christ and fellow religious, if you wish to attain the joys of heaven, then hasten to carry the mystical Cross and be determined to walk in the steps of your Redeemer.
Do not be put off by heavy but short-lived penances, nor desire a relaxation in the observance of religious discipline, rather view as easy and light all that your institute requires and joyfully fulfill all that holy obedience asks of you.
If you find it difficult to obey every order given you, then know that Christ has fulfilled for your sake even weightier orders, namely, death on the despised Cross. Therefore, be faithful in following the strict rule of our fathers and do not swerve from the path that leads to the kingdom. Have nothing to do with roadways that are smooth, for they are designed to draw the slothful to a foul end.
On the day you entered religion, you accepted your cross, and on the day you professed your vows you bound yourself still more closely to it. Imitate the Crucified by living a holy and righteous life. If you want to increase your religious fervor, then carry your cross with gladness. If you complain and bear it unwillingly, you will not receive the glory Jesus has reserved for you, but the punishment of the unbelieving thief. If, on the other hand, you endure all things with joy and meekness, then you have in great part overcome the evil one.
Therefore, do not fear the rigors of religious life, nor count as long your days within it, for the love of Christ and the joy of a well-lived life can transform irksome chores into happy tasks. There is one who went before you and who lived a much more difficult life, namely, Jesus, the Son of God and great patron of the Cross, who himself experienced the Cross’ heavy weight. Therefore, follow your Savior in the way of the Cross; by not abandoning the religious life nor relaxing the resolves of any fervent monk, you will be safe forever.
If you wished to enjoy this world’s delights or to remain in command of your possessions or to follow your own desires, you would then have remained in the world. By your entrance into religion you chose to walk with Christ, hence observe the rule you have promised to follow. Ask Jesus to assist you mightily, for he, who had inspired you at the outset to begin well, will see that you successfully complete it.
My beloved Jesus, Prince of this earth’s kings, Ruler of angels, and eminent Standard Bearer of all Christians, you carried before that deriding crowd the Cross on your own shoulders for your servants’ salvation and, as an example to them, now assist me in my hesitation to follow you in that sad procession. Do not abandon me before the appointed time of my death and afterward lead my soul, liberated from this body of sin, to Mount Calvary, the mount of myrrh and frankincense, where you were crucified and died for me, so that I may find security beneath the sign of the Cross and there rest in you.
Grant me to start again but with new fervor and to follow you, not with the fickleness of those who are lukewarm, but with the eyes of my heart ever fixed on you as you carry your Cross, I may avoid the wavering of the inconstant. Be a guide to me as I travel along the narrow road and be my companion on the way, a helper in good times and a consoler in times of adversity, as well as a partner in the many labors that I have taken on for your name’s sake. Help me to bear the day’s heat and burden and that I may join my community in singing the liturgical hours and assist at the holy services. Grant also that in moments of stress and great anxiety that I may call to mind your extreme weariness under the heavy weight of the Cross and, thus, the slight burdens that I must bear will become insignificant when I consider the weight of your heavy Cross.
Relying on your kind assistance, I will freely and willingly endure the rigors of religious life, into which I have entered, and though you may permit me to feel its weight for a brief period of time—so that I may grow in humility—you will, at the proper time and in the proper manner, eventually come to my aid by manifesting your mercy tome.
Teach me to conquer my will, to be satisfied with few things in life, and not to desire to journey outside the monastery. Let my hands be occupied with work and my heart taken up with meditating on the Holy Scriptures; let the members of my body be employed in serving you, my senses kept under strict control, and may I, insignificant as I am, be numbered among the true cross-bearers.
Remove from me all interest in worldly matters and put an end to all attachments to the flesh. Let me not find delight in others’ affairs, or waste time in useless chatter, but strive to concentrate on my interior life and to grieve and lament secretly over my many excesses and negligences. May I reject all that keeps me from advancing in virtue, and may I follow the path of those who keep their eyes focused on you—those who with a calm spirit know how to transcend all temporal things.
Diligently will I call to mind the Cross you so lovingly bore for my sake, and may I in turn be inflamed with the love of the Cross so that I may daily give myself to you by being obedient to my religious rule. Finally, may I willingly and without any show of resistance bear the burdens laid upon me, until the time I arrive at the long-desired place of peace and safety.