The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus to Carry His Cross
If you will reign with Me, will you bear the cross with Me?
Reflection: And when they had mocked Jesus, they took the purple cloak off and put His own clothes on Him and they led Him out to be crucified. Then they forced a certain passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, to take up His cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, a name meaning the place of the skull’. (Mk 15:20-22)
Meditation: Book 3, CHAPTER 56 of The Imitation of Christ:
Christ:“If you will enter into life, keep the commandments (Matt 19:17, 21). If you will know the truth, believe in Me. If you will be perfect, sell all that you have. If you will be My disciple, deny yourself. If you would possess the blessed life, despise this present life. If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself in the world. If you will reign with Me, bear the cross with Me; for only the servants of the cross find the way of blessedness and of true light.”
by Ariel Ageman
Prayer: O Lord Jesus, as You have said and promised, even so let it be to me, and grant me to prove worthy. I have received the cross at Your hand; I have carried it, and will carry it even to my death, as You have laid it upon me. Truly the life of a fully devoted servant is a cross, but it leads to paradise. I have begun; I may not return back nor leave it.
Therefore: Come, let us together go forward. Jesus shall be with us. For Jesus’ sake we have taken up this cross, for Jesus’ sake let us persevere in the cross. He will be our Helper, Who is our Captain and Forerunner. Behold our King enters in before us, and He will fight for us. Let us follow bravely, let no one be afraid; let us be prepared to die bravely in battle, and let us not stain our honor, as to fly from the cross(1 Mac 9:10). Amen.
Commentary: Be passers-by.