9th Station of the Cross

Ninth Station: Jesus falls a third time.

   Jesus falls for the third time as He gets closer to Calvary and  He will take His last breath. The road is getting harder and harder to continue on but He knows how this must end so we may live. His life needs to end so we can live in the next life.

     There are things in each of our lives that continue to bring us down and take us from where or what we need to be doing. Others around us may yell, mock, or look down on us because we have “fallen” again. Those people are like those who watched Jesus fall again and pushed, beat, and yelled at Him to continue on. This does not help those who have fallen but only helps with keeping them down. It is hard enough to get back up on your own but when those who are around you, do nothing to help but criticize, it becomes even harder to get back up. 

     It is easier to stay down when we fall. Easier to just keep on sinning because “ Why not, I have already sinned anyway”. This idea only keeps that gap that is between us and God from closing. This idea only promotes destruction and does nothing to close or bridge that gap. That bridge or that thing that closes the gap is confession of our sins and admitting to ourselves what causes us to fall. Look sin dead on and challenge yourself to gain control over it. 

     I know I beat myself over some sins over and over because I feel I should have by now a better understanding on how to avoid those things that bring me closer to sin then to God. Once those sins start around me it is easier to fall back to them and allow those sins to multiply. This is where I need to grow and ask those to help and even pray for me in the areas. It is in my weakness that I have to be strong in Jesus as well as each of us do. The strength is in the getting back up each time and continuing on the journey to heaven. 

     Our crosses get heavier when we are at our weakest and lighter when we are at our strongest. It does not mean we have more to deal with always, it can be that we are just tired from the weight of the problems or sins in our lives. The more we sin the weaker we get and the harder it is to carry our crosses. To get that strength we have to keep sin at a distance so we can stay focussed on the path we want to take. The path that will lead us to the eternal life. 

        Now matter if it is the third time you have fallen or the thirtieth, Jesus is there for you. Remember that. Jesus will be there, is there, and forever will be there. 

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may we all continue fighting to stay the course and not fall. 

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Lectionary: 242

Reading 1

HOS 6:1-6

“Come, let us return to the LORD,

it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;

he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.

He will revive us after two days;

on the third day he will raise us up,

to live in his presence.

Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD;

as certain as the dawn is his coming,

and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!

He will come to us like the rain,

like spring rain that waters the earth.”

What can I do with you, Ephraim?

What can I do with you, Judah?

Your piety is like a morning cloud,

like the dew that early passes away.

For this reason I smote them through the prophets,

I slew them by the words of my mouth;

For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice,

and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21AB

R. (see Hosea 6:6) It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;

in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.

Thoroughly wash me from my guilt

and of my sin cleanse me.

R. It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

For you are not pleased with sacrifices;

should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;

a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

R. It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

Be bountiful, O LORD, to Zion in your kindness

by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem;

Then shall you be pleased with due sacrifices,

burnt offerings and holocausts.

R. It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

Gospel

LK 18:9-14

Jesus addressed this parable

to those who were convinced of their own righteousness

and despised everyone else.

“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;

one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,

‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — 

greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week,

and I pay tithes on my whole income.’

But the tax collector stood off at a distance

and would not even raise his eyes to heaven

but beat his breast and prayed,

‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;

for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”