Way of the Cross

Soon we will commemorate Holy Week, and remember the long, agonizing walk of Jesus to Calvary. With his head still crushed with the crown of thorns and his back still stinging with the whip lashes, he pulls the heavy wooden cross along the path. He sees his mother and the women crying, longing to help him with his burden. Finally Simon comes to assist him.

How do we react to this devastating memory, this experience of Jesus enduring such excruciating pain? I'm sure the people of Ukraine are walking with Jesus, begging for relief from their agony and the inhumane treatment by the Russians. 

We condemn the Russians and strive to mitigate their evil. But Richard Rohr reminds us, "we are all complicit. We're all cooperative in the stupidity of human history. No one can stand up and say, 'I didn't do anything wrong.' As Paul says so clearly: 'All have sinned,' (Rom.3:2 ) so we all bear the burden of sin."

All are called to connect with the Ukrainians in prayer and assistance to bring an end to their persecution. We need to be Simons, helping to carry their heavy cross, and we want the people to realize that the rest of the world has not deserted them, that they are not alone. It takes so long to overcome the obstacles, the bombs, the bulwarks.

As we walk with Jesus and the Ukrainian people this Holy Week, we may often feel hopeless, unable to go on. But we must keep dragging this cross; we must experience a kind of death before there is a resurrection. We have to trust that our merciful God will bring an end to this cruelty and devastation. 

May our joining the Ukrainians on their way of the cross portend a resurrection for all this Easter.