9th Station - Jesus falls the third time

Compared to the first two falls, the crosses in this station are larger and heavier - Jesus is crushed to the ground. It is our sins, our fall, which causes him to fall. But we must not loose hope - on Holy Saturday night we shall be singing:

What good would life have been to us, had Christ not come as our Redeemer? Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love! To ransom a slave you gave away your Son. O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

8th Station - The women of Jerusalem

This is one of my favourite stations! The cross is full of life - it is bearing fruit, and plenty of it! Through his death, Jesus gives life to us all. Just as the women with their young children are life-bearers, so is Jesus. Let us pray for all those to be Baptised at the Easter Vigil and re-born into the life of the Risen Lord. May we rise to a new life with them.

May we bear much fruit through our Easter celebrations, for Jesus said: 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty.'

7th Station - Jesus fall the second time

Most of us can probably cope with our first fall - but the second is much harder. Our pride is really bruised. This photo shows all the other crosses of the world battering down Our Lord to the ground. Some of these crosses are our sins, and so as we approach Holy Week we must ask Jesus to forgive us our sins. He waits to forgive us and raise us up again.

At times life seems tough, but as we meditate on this station may we hear Jesus say to us 'come to me, all you who labour and overburdened, and I will give you rest.'

6th Station - Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

It is not obvious that Veronica will have been of much practical use to Jesus, indeed it may well have been very painful when she removed the cloth from his face. Nevertheless she did it out of love, and Jesus rewarded her kindness with an image of his face. She probably didn't appreaciate that she was wiping the face of the Son of God!

We must look for opportunities to show love and kindness to others, for Jesus said 'I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.'

We must also learn to accept well-meaning acts of kindness from others - even when in practice they are not much help.

5th Station - Simon of Cyrene

Simon could hardly have been pleased at being ordered to help Jesus carry his cross. However, this scene suggests that not only did Jesus benefit from Simon's help, Simon benefited from the presence of Jesus.

It would appear that Jesus is saying something to Simon, and that Simon is listening carefully to Jesus. I wonder what Jesus is saying? I'm sure it must have been something wise and loving.

Jesus can speak to us today when we help someone who is suffering to carry their cross.

4th Station - Jesus meets his Mother

This station is not only the most tender of the 15, it is also in many ways the saddest. We see Jesus and Mary in warm embrace, but Jesus is on his way to be crucified. How true the prophecy of Simeon those 33 years earlier when he said to Mary, 'and a sword will pierce your own soul too.'

We should pray for our own families, that parents will be loving to their children, and that children will be loving to their parents. We not only learn from Jesus - we can also learn much from Mary, the Mother who always points us toward her Son.

3rd Station - Jesus falls the first time

Here we see Jesus falling under the weight of the cross - but it is not only the weight of his own cross which is making him fall, it is also all the other crosses in the world.

Whatever we suffer, Jesus is carrying the weight of it. He suffers with us. There is no human suffering in which he is not present to redeem it and turn it into the seed of resurrection.