Second Station: Jesus takes up his cross
Scripture
“Then, at that moment, [Pilate] handed him over to them to be put to death on a cross. So they took Jesus; and carrying his own cross, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha” (John 19:16-17).
Meditation
In the garden, “I love you” was enough.
Faith and trust unencumbered, unbroken
they were sufficient, in the cool of day.
But night came, with the fracture of your heart,
which mem’ry spills from like blood and water;
so, I must now show you, over, again,
that there is action present with the Word.
Prayer
Jesus, you showed us that it is not enough to speak of love. Like you, we must lift up the weight of it daily. For like our bodies, our hearts grow weak and atrophy without the hard work of love to keep them strong. Teach us to be not hearers only as we go forth in a world that needs a love that can shoulder its burdens and carry them on the road ahead. This we ask so the world may know you. Amen.