Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross

The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross

Last updated on: April 21, 2017 at 9:04 pm by Mary Pezzulo

The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross 2017-04-21T21:04:17-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bürgersaal_Kreuzweg_06

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

He can’t go on. He is exhausted. No amount of pulling, pushing, flogging and screaming will make Him. He is too weak, and in too much pain. The guards can’t make Him carry that cross all the way to Calvary. He’ll never last that long. They won’t get to have their fun if He isn’t helped, but the guards don’t want to help.

The Lover of Mankind has become a burden.

There is a law, that a Roman can press a foreigner into service, to carry a burden for one mile. Here is a foreigner, Simon of Cyrene. The Romans press him into service, to carry the cross with Jesus.

Simon doesn’t know that he’s been pressed into carrying the ciborium; he doesn’t know he’s taking part in the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, the wedding feast of the King’s Son, the sacrifice of God to God. The guards don’t know it either. One of them could have picked up the cross, and we’d know their name for all generations, just as we know Simon’s. But they didn’t pick it up. They pressed Simon into service, and Simon will be remembered as the one who helped Christ.

Now, Christ knows the agony of being a burden. Now, everyone who’s ever been thought of or treated as a burden, or felt themselves to be a burden, is one with Christ. Now everyone who needs help to bear her cross, is one with Christ. Now the disabled, the sick, the elderly, children and the dying, are made into a new kind of icon. They were created in the image of God, and are icons of God, but from this day throughout eternity they are also icons of the suffering Christ, who needed help to bear His cross.

If you have been helpless, you are one with Him. If you’ve felt like a burden to someone you love, so has He. If you have been neglected or abused by your caregiver, you have suffered with Christ. If you know what it’s like for the trauma of sickness to be compounded by the trauma of abuse or neglect, the King knows it as well. If the ones who helped you have done so grudgingly, not knowing that you were an icon– Christ’s Heart broke with yours. It was Christ they hurt. He will take your suffering to the Cross with His own, and return it to you as glory in the end.

The Father looks at the stairs you couldn’t climb, the one step you couldn’t get over, the line you couldn’t stand in, the job you couldn’t do, and sees the Way of the Cross.

The Heavenly Father looks at those who failed to help and those who helped grudgingly, those who abused you and those who ignored you, and sees the guards who pressed a foreigner into carrying the cross to Calvary, to murder the Son of God.

The King of Heaven looks at your wheelchair, your hospital bed, the psych ward, the crutches, the house you don’t get to leave because people forget to take you along with them, your room nobody visits because they have forgotten you. And all He can see is the Ciborium and the Cross.

He looks at you and sees His son.

When this is over, when you go before the Throne of Glory, He will show your via dolorosa to the whole world. Everyone will understand what you endured. Everyone who saw you as burden will see that you were Christ. And the Father will give you His Son’s crown and the highest place, because Christ took your passion as His own.

(image via Wikimedia Commons)

(Steel Magnificat will be meditating on the Way of the Cross on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout Lent. All Stations are linked in this post.)

mourn with those mourn

Previous Post

March 15, 2017

Meet Stephan, The Central Florida Cobra

Next Post

March 16, 2017 Every Face An Icon

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Rabboni" mean, as Mary Magdalene called Jesus after the resurrection?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Savior Messenger Shepherd Teacher