The Holy Face in the Way of the Cross VII-Jesus falls the second time

(The seventh in a series of posts praying the Stations of the Cross...begin here and then follow along each day.)

 

Jesus was mindful of the abiding character of human frailty and in this His second fall beneath the Cross, His very exhaustion provided for all time courage and strength, grace for souls that find themselves constantly in need of beginning again.

Jesus, in a very special manner I thank You for the second fall beneath the Cross, for repeated falls with repeated need to begin again are characteristics of my life, and indeed of the lives of thousands.  Your second fall assured me of Your patience with human weakness and inspires me to lift myself by Your grace and to begin again.

Mother dearest, your only weakness was that of love; extend your pitying love to me and to all who fall in sin and need must rise again.

(From The Holy Face in the Way of the Cross with etchings by Hippolyte Lazerges and reflections by  Father Page, C.S.C. aka Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, sP, the founder of the Handmaids of the Precious Blood, published by the St. Columban's Fathers Foreign Mission Society)