The Holy Face in the Way of the Cross IX-Jesus falls the third time

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

There is an utter weariness in the Holy Face drooping like a tired flower back to the breast of the earth.  Eyes and mouth have not the strength to close, so complete is the exhaustion of the Master.  Only the will to sacrifice remains in vigor, and that will endures because its strength is nourished by Love Divine.

Jesus, somewhere along the road ahead, a last disappointing failure may be waiting for me, a last moment of bodily weariness, perhaps a last moment of moral weariness.  Jesus, on my bodily and spiritual infirmities have mercy, remembering your own last fall.

Blessed Mother, pity the tired ones of the world. 

 (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)

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)