Through A Mother's Eyes

On Friday 13, 2015, I went to the Stations of the Cross at Spirit of Christ Catholic Community. These Stations were not what I had grown up with, but the Stations were about how Mary, Our Blessed Mother,
must have felt as she saw her son being condemned, tortured and led away to be killed. There were seven readers, two deacons, and members of the congregation at the special Stations. It wasn't a very large crowd but those in attendance must have felt, as I was feeling, the sadness of Our Blessed Mother.

In front of each Station, everyone repeated: "We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world." At each Station, new pain was felt by Mary. As she saw him condemned to die, carrying the large wooden cross, falling down, looking into his eyes, seeing a woman wipe his face, watching a man help her son with the cross, feeling the pain as every nail was hammered into her son and watching her son die. These are pains that none of us will ever have to experience but our imaginations can allow us to think how it must have been. As I heard the words of what she was going through made me feel sad that my sins had helped to put Christ on the cross.

There were many sentences that moved me, but the one I remember most is, "A deep sorrow engulfed my being. Yet, I also felt a deep joy. Life had ended cruelly for my son, but it had brought life to all of us."

The Marian Stations are beautiful because they show the agony Jesus' mother went through during the Passion of Our Lord. They made me see that it doesn't have to be a big sin, but how little things can also cause pain. All of the prayers touched my heart, yet the one that I believed hit close to home was:

Lord Jesus, I beg you to forgive me for the many times 

I have added more weight to you cross by closing my eyes

to the pain and loneliness of my neighbor. Forgive me for

gossiping about others and for always trying to find excuses

to avoid certain people who wish to talk to me. Help me be 

like Mary, always seeking to enlighten the crosses of others.

Please forgive me.