X. Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

The Tenth Station

Illustration: Carolyn Gates

X. Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

We adore you O Christ, and we praise you.

Because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world

'Then the governors soldiers took Jesus with them into the Praetorium and collected the whole cohort around him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe around him, and having twisted some thorns into a crown they put this on his head and placed a reed into his right hand. To make fun of him they knelt to him saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' And the spat on him and took the reed from his hand and struck him on the head with it."

Matthew 27 - 30

IX. Jesus falls for the third time

My outraged Jesus, by the weakness you suffered in going to Calvary give me enough strength to overcome all human respect and all my evil passions which have led me to despise your friendship.

My Jesus, I love you more than I love myself. I am sorry that I have offended you. Never allow me to offend you again. Grant that I may love you always and then do with me what you will.

(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be...)

Make me feel as you have felt

Make my soul to glow and melt

with the love of Christ, my Lord.

IX. Jesus falls for the third time

Looking at the ninth station of the cross Edward Schillebeeckx OP would surely have to comment that 'God, in some sense, has got a struggle on God's hands.' Schillebeeckx addressed human suffering beginning with his understanding that it could never be understood. Suffering could not be argued against, or explained, it could only be shared; in fact, it demanded to be shared and that is why those in pain are often in such desperate need of someone who will listen to them tell their story. Theological explanations and theories are not enough to explain to the mystery of evil in this world, they never add up.

The Stations of the Cross are another example of 'telling the story' of suffering. Schillebeeckx understood the ministry of Jesus as a protest against suffering. Where he saw Jesus ministering to the sick, he saw a protest against evil and the relief of suffering. For Christians today suffering demands that we take example from this ministry, listening to the suppressed stories of people in their pain, and actively ministering to ensure the prevention and the relief of suffering. In the suffering of the Passion Schillebeeckx refuses to talk about the 'abandonment' of Jesus. Instead he argues that we should understand that God was silently present throughout this terrifying ordeal: 'God nevertheless remains near at hand...salvation consists in the fact that man still holds fast to God's invisible hand in this dark night of faith.' God waits to bring resurrection from death. Schillebeeckx is clear that evil is not 'allowed' or 'permitted' by God for a 'greater good'. This language, so often used to express confusion in the mystery of suffering is unhelpful. "God, who according to Leviticus, 'abominates human sacrifices' (Lev 18: 21 - 30; 20: 1 - 5), did not put Jesus in the cross. Human beings did that. The Kingdom of God comes despite of, not because of, the human misuse of power and the rejection of the message if the King of Peace.

'The story of Jesus assures us that entering into communion with suffering people and acting to bring life out of death is what God does for a living. This memory is not the same as an explanation, for suffering remains a mystery."

This post has used extensively the thoughts and words of Robin Ryan CP who published Holding onto the Hand of God: Edward Schilllebeeckx on the Mystery of Suffering in New Blackfriars Vol 89 NO 1019 January 2008, Pages 114 - 126.

IX. Jesus falls for the third time

'Third time lucky' is what we sometimes say when we have experienced things that go wrong. I cannot imagine that this was the experience here. I thought for a little while today about what it feels like when you cannot imagine the future. 'Darkness' is the adjective that comes to mind. When we fail it is almost instinctive to curl up into a tiny ball and return to the fetal comfort of the womb, not daring to look out. Coincidentally, today it "Laetare" Sunday, when the Church calls its people to hope during the long season of abstinence, fasting and prayer that is Lent, preparation for Easter. No one likes to be in the dark. Actually, that is not quite true. I quite Like it, but that is only because of the uncertainty it makes me feel, the danger. Darkness, quite naturally makes us feel uneasy. For some people, it makes them frightened. I imagine that for Jesus, this third fall made his feel desperate, afraid and abandoned. There is nothing to do when that happens, but hold on, wait.

Sometimes people think that religious people should always be happy, but that is unrealistic. Life is a chequerboard of good and bad. 'Shit happens', and sometimes it isn't even our fault. In the Gospel today the Church listened to the story of the man born blind in John 9. It is a striking story for many reasons, but there are two in particular which enabled me to think about this station. Firstly, this man has always been in darkness - he has never known 'the good times' which have been accorded to people able to earn a living of their own accord, and he has been reliant on the kindness and cruelty of others all his life. Secondly, when he has been healed and the Pharisees are questioning him about Jesus he is honest and forthright. He does not know exactly who Jesus is, but he knows that a good thing has come to him, and that good things come from God: ' 'Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. All I know is that I was blind and now I see.'

That Jesus falls for a third time on the road adds to the darkness and the cruelty of the passion. Disasters crueler than can be imagined happen to innocent people. But, none of this takes away from the light of the resurrection. The presence of God amongst suffering. When we fall and fall again in our lives, when everything is dark around us, it is not because Christ is not there. It because we have folded up into a ball and our eyes have been hidden from the light. In this station Jesus shows that he has experienced how this feels. But, as the blind man teaches the Pharisees: 'Everything in the darkness is the same as it is in the light.' God is never that far away.

IX. Jesus falls for the third time

IX. Jesus falls for the third time

Illustration: Chris Snedeker

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you

Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world

I am the man familiar with misery,

under the rod of his fury.

He has led and guided me into darkness, not light.

Against none but me does he turn his hand,

again and again, all day

Lamentations 3: 1 - 3

VIII Jesus speaks to the women

My Jesus, laden with sorrows, I weep for the sins I have committed against you because of the punishment I deserve for them; and, still more, because of the displeasure that have caused you who have loved me with an infinite love.

My Jesus, I love you more than I love myself; I am sorry that I have offended you. Never allow me to offend you again. Grant that I may love you always; and then do with me what you will.

(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be)

O sweet Mother! Fount of love,

Touch my spirit from above

Make my heart with yours accord.

VIII Jesus speaks to the women

What sort of places are stations anyway? Stations of the cross...why stations? Stations are places where we stop, pause and wait for something to happen, or for someone to arrive. Perhaps that is why these are stations - we are waiting for God to speak, to arrive, and for something to happen. A lot of prayer seems to me to be about waiting, listening, hoping. Maybe it is like being at a station.

Even on a crowded station there is a sense of being with others, but alone. We take a step back to think - where am I going? Everyone is on a journey and we are all going in the same direction. Where we came from is different; our reasons for traveling are different - sometimes full of joy, sometimes sorrow and suffering - always hope, God will arrive.

I travel to London after school once or twice a week, and for me stations can be quite frightening. They are places where you can be called to witness something - someone drunk, and argument, someone crying. It is always difficult to know what to do, it can be threatening. Do I just watch and witness? Look away? Intervene? The suffering of those closer to us can be equally challenging and pose the same questions, but mostly all people need is to know that you are there, present, walking with them.

The women in this picture are waiting for something: justice, peace, mercy, compassion. Jesus speaks to them. He is present to them, they walk with Him, he walks with them: waiting for something to happen, waiting for God to arrive and for God-with-us to make himself known once more.

VIII. Jesus speaks to the women

There is something about this picture that speaks to me of repentance. In a way, this is the moment of Christ's passion addressed to me. So much of what takes place occurs in masculine society, the courts of the Sanhedrin and Pilate from which women were forbidden, the courtyards of soldiers where women would rather not be seen. But here, in the street, women are not only witnesses, their mourning makes them involved. 'Weep not for me', says Jesus, 'weep for yourselves, and for your children'. There is in the same sentence a deep need for conversion, turning back to God, and a responsibility for the next generation, the children.

In many ways this picture moves me to look in places I would rather leave in the dark, places of suffering and pain. I feel a 'sense of revolt at my own foolishness and triviality. Shame and amazement at the way I have trifled with life and grace - how could I be so utterly stupid! A real sense of being flawed and needing immense help, pardon - to recover some capacity to love God.' (Thomas Merton). Are you allowed to steal your own feelings from the mouths of others?

When you see the sorrow of those who suffer great loss, it is impossible to understand, and perhaps that is why it is easier to quote Merton than fathom something of my own. Love is shown most when love is lost; that is when people weep, shout and cry. For me the women speak of the tragedy of 'love lost', they mourn their loss, and wish with all their mind, body and soul, that they could return to a place where love is found once more. A place which can only be found beyond death, a place in eternity.

VIII. Jesus speaks to the women

This picture was taken my Lukasz Trzcinski

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.

Despairing Palestinian women during the funeral of a Palestinan soldier killed the previous day during an armed confrontation with Israeli soldiers.

5th October 2000

VIII. Jesus speaks with the women

We adore you, O Christ and we praise you

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

Large numbers of people followed him, and women too, who mourned and lamented for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children. For look, the days are surely coming when people will say, 'Blessed are those who are barren, the wombs that have never bourne children, the breasts that have never suckled!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!; to the hills, 'Cover us!' For if this is what is done to the green wood, what will be done when the wood is dry?

Luke 23: 27 - 30

VII. Jesus falls for the second time

My most gentle Jesus,

how many times have you forgiven me;

and how many times I have fallen again and begun to offend you!

By the merits of this second fall,

give me the grace to persevere in your love until death.

Grant, that in all my temptations, I may always have recourse to you.

I love you, O my Jesus, with my whole heart;

I repent of having offended you.

Never permit me to separate myself from you again.

Grant that I may love you always, and then do with me what you will.

(Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, etc)