Come and have a chance to actually carry the cross or to join the procession during each station. This act would enable each of us to relive the experience of Simon of Cyrene, who walked beside Jesus and shared the burden of the cross.
walking beside Jesus and sharing the burden of the Cross, came to see that it was a grace to be able to accompany him to his crucifixion and to help him. On the way to Calvary, Jesus carried that cross for us, and, amazingly, He wants us, like Simon of Cyrene, to join Him in carrying His Cross; He wants us to walk at His side and place ourselves with Him at the service of the world's redemption. May this Evening of Devotion, Prayer and Reflections on the Way of the Cross not be just a moment of passing piety. We ask the Lord Jesus to help all of us to accompany Him not only with noble thoughts, but with all our hearts and in every step we take each day of our lives. May Jesus help us resolutely to set out on the Way of the Cross and to persevere on our path. May this experience free us from the fear of the Cross, from the fear of mockery, from the fear that our life may escape our grasp unless we cling possessively to everything it has to offer. May this experience help us to unmask all those temptations that promise life, but whose enticements in the end leave us only empty and deluded and help us not to take life, but to give it.
