Jesus Falls the First Time

This station comes from the devotional tradition of the Church; the Gospels do not tell it.

“Truly, it was he who bore our infirmities,
who carried our sufferings,
while we, we thought him punished,
struck by God and utterly humiliated.” (cf. Is 53:4)

Look

The Gospels do not say that Jesus fell; the Church's devotion has contemplated this image through generations of people walking the Way of the Cross. In this scene of meditation, look at a truth about the body: after a night of prayer in the Garden of Olives, he was arrested, taken from one place to another, and scourged. His knees strike the stone. The Son of God did not pretend to be human; he was tested in every way as we are, yet without sin (cf. Heb 4:15). Falling here is not yet defeat. It is the moment we see clearly that the human condition is not strong enough on its own, and he himself is not ashamed to have taken on that condition.

Ask your heart

Are you straining so that no one sees you are tired, not even God or the people who love you?

One small thing

Tell someone close whom you trust (a parent, an older brother or sister) or a close friend honestly about one thing that feels like too much for you, and accept their help.