Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

  Jesus has come to the spot where He will lose His life. He is tired and beaten down. Now as He stands there before the masses He is stripped of His garments. He stands before them exposed and humiliated. 

   Before Jesus is nailed to the cross for forgiveness of our sins He is stripped down, almost naked. Almost fully exposed to the world. There are a few ways that come to mind about being stripped down and exposed. 

   The first is with confession/ reconciliation.  This is how we need to be when we are asking for forgiveness and God’s Love. We need to strip away those sins and expose who is under all those layers to Jesus so we may know and feel that sense of forgiveness and love. The idea of going to confession bothers some because they feel they are like Jesus and will be exposed. That the Priest will hold them to those sins that we are confessing. Yes, I must admit sometimes it is hard to expose my sins but after it is done there is that feeling of release. 

    The second is part of my retreat experience this past weekend. I was stripped of those outside connections to the world. Stripped of the noises and voices. I was stripped of , not only, my connections to the world but of a voice for the weekend. I am someone who’s phone is constantly checked, used to text, and check facebook. When I am home the TV is on, the phone is by my side and the computer is on. There is that constant chatter. Yet, this weekend, those things were silent. I needed those things to be stripped from me so I can focus and be disconnected to the world so I may reconnect with God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and Mary. 

     If someone asked you “ Who are you? Tell me about yourself ? Explain to me what makes you, you?” What would you say? Would you list your occupation? Your Marital status? Children? Religion? Where you live? Would you say what you own and have? Each one of these are layers that we place on ourselves or allow them to be placed on us by others. If you now strip all of that away, who are you? What is at your core? It is only when we strip all of the titles or categories can we see that at the core we are all children of God. All of the titles and layers we add, shape how we are and viewed in the world. We have to be exposed and stripped so others see first and foremost that we belong to God. That we are not ashamed of being who we truly are meant to be in the world. 

      We do not want to be stripped and exposed because we do not want to see the mocking glances of others, hear their whispers or face rejection of who we really are inside. Jesus stood as He was stripped of the earthly garments to not expose Himself but the sins of the world. When we go before God we will be stripped of all those things that are of this secular world so we may hope to gain the Heavenly Kingdom. Really look at yourself and strip down all those things that bind you to this world so you can stand before God. Strip down so you may gain forgiveness and salvation.    

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may you expose your true self to not only others but to yourself as well.