2001 LENTEN MEDITATIONS

Grieshaber's Polish Stations of the Cross

Week 3: Stations of the Cross #7-9

This week we invite you to meditate on stations VII, VIII and IX. Christ's Passion - as represented in the Way of the Cross.

*Seventh Station: The Second Fall*	Roots A fall at the gate of the city is indicated in 1283 (Burchard). The Bible, however, doesn’t make mention of it. The theme of the abasement of God is amply known: But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people. Psalm 22:6 Representation The mood is somber. Blackbirds are flying over the mountains; the road seems endless. This is the life perspective of the fallen figure holding on to the cross. Identification Sometimes a giant nail that pins us to the ground, the cross can be a prop and a pillar. It is also the blue staff of my soul, as in this station, reaching higher than the highest mountain. We may say: "My flesh will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades" (Acts 2:26-27; Psalm 16:9-10).

Seventh Station: The Second Fall

Roots

A fall at the gate of the city is indicated in 1283 (Burchard). The Bible, however, doesn’t make mention of it. The theme of the abasement of God is amply known: But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people. Psalm 22:6

Representation

The mood is somber. Blackbirds are flying over the mountains; the road seems endless. This is the life perspective of the fallen figure holding on to the cross.

Identification

Sometimes a giant nail that pins us to the ground, the cross can be a prop and a pillar. It is also the blue staff of my soul, as in this station, reaching higher than the highest mountain. We may say: "My flesh will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades" (Acts 2:26-27; Psalm 16:9-10).

*Eighth Station: The Wailing Women*	Roots And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’" Luke 23:27-29 Representation The wailing women are standing in line. A line, alas, of separate worlds. Icons of sorrow, they seem absorbed in their own suffering. Are they lacking a deeper sense of Christ’s Way of the Cross? There is a green lining of hope traversing their figures and that of the Suffering Servant. Eventually, his message will reach their senses, but even now his knees are buckling under the weight of a cross that has never been heavier. Identification Frequently, suffering leads to avoidance, and we make dolor our sole companion. Wrapping ourselves within an impenetrable shroud of self-pity, we retreat from life. Human hardship is always a shared experience. I need to understand its deeper meaning; only then will suffering become a harbinger of days of peace and joy.

Eighth Station: The Wailing Women

Roots

And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’" Luke 23:27-29

Representation

The wailing women are standing in line. A line, alas, of separate worlds. Icons of sorrow, they seem absorbed in their own suffering. Are they lacking a deeper sense of Christ’s Way of the Cross? There is a green lining of hope traversing their figures and that of the Suffering Servant. Eventually, his message will reach their senses, but even now his knees are buckling under the weight of a cross that has never been heavier.

Identification

Frequently, suffering leads to avoidance, and we make dolor our sole companion. Wrapping ourselves within an impenetrable shroud of self-pity, we retreat from life. Human hardship is always a shared experience. I need to understand its deeper meaning; only then will suffering become a harbinger of days of peace and joy.

*Ninth Station: The Third Fall*	Roots In the 14th Century there exist mentions (Verona and Poggibonsi) of a stone in the courtyard of the Holy Sepulcher Church upon which Jesus fell. Psalm 69 translates some of Jesus’ shame and disgrace: Thou knowest my reproach, and my shame and my dishonour; my foes are all known to thee. Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. Psalm 69:19-20 Representation Mountains are no longer the only obstacles on the Way of the Cross. The Suffering Servant himself has become a mountain and an obstacle on his road. He is a mountain of sorrows, a pitiful and amorphous clump of human misery. His abasement is sealed with the pitiless sign of his mission – the cross. But heaven unfurls with a cascade of mystical flowers, passion flowers maybe. Their hearts are the color of blood, but their green petals are harboring promise. Identification "Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get into heaven" (Rose of Lima). Christians, we hail the cross as "our only hope" (Hymn Vexilla Regis). Christ was even more explicit. He wants me to take up my cross and follow him (Matthew 16:24) – provided I will accept to be his disciple.

Ninth Station: The Third Fall

Roots

In the 14th Century there exist mentions (Verona and Poggibonsi) of a stone in the courtyard of the Holy Sepulcher Church upon which Jesus fell. Psalm 69 translates some of Jesus’ shame and disgrace: Thou knowest my reproach, and my shame and my dishonour; my foes are all known to thee. Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. Psalm 69:19-20

Representation

Mountains are no longer the only obstacles on the Way of the Cross. The Suffering Servant himself has become a mountain and an obstacle on his road. He is a mountain of sorrows, a pitiful and amorphous clump of human misery. His abasement is sealed with the pitiless sign of his mission – the cross. But heaven unfurls with a cascade of mystical flowers, passion flowers maybe. Their hearts are the color of blood, but their green petals are harboring promise.

Identification

"Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get into heaven" (Rose of Lima). Christians, we hail the cross as "our only hope" (Hymn Vexilla Regis). Christ was even more explicit. He wants me to take up my cross and follow him (Matthew 16:24) – provided I will accept to be his disciple.

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