This week, we will explore the passion of Christ in the paradoxes of his cross. The images that accompany these meditations are from the St. Martin de Porres Chapel in Baumer Hall. Martin de Porres is a Peruvian saint and the stations in this chapel represent a Latin American depiction of the Stations of the Cross.

Let us pray: Loving God, the mystery of your love turns upside down every human expectation. By his incarnation, your son showed us that God could become human, and by his cross he showed us that love could conquer death. As we journey through Lent, let our meditation on the cross of Christ be the path to your mercy and the doorway to true repentance. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Art: Stations of the Cross from the St. Martin de Porres Chapel in Baumer Hall

The First Station, Jesus is condemned to death.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

The foundational paradox of the way of the cross is Jesus’ condemnation. Jesus is the sinless Son of God. He is perfect in holiness: blameless and innocent. How is it possible that the innocent one is condemned to die? Before the cross of Christ, we could only atone for our own sins, imperfectly. The paradox of his innocent condemnation makes it possible for our Savior to atone for our sins, perfectly, thus offering us forgiveness and everlasting life.

The Second Station, Jesus takes up his cross.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

As Jesus takes up his cross, we are confronted with the paradox of his willing death. Jesus lifts his cross not only because he is compelled to do so by force, but because he has come to do the will of the Father. In every other crucifixion in human history, the cross has claimed the life of its victim. Paradoxically, Jesus claims the cross by giving up his life. When the wood of the cross first touches his shoulder, he embraces it willingly. For our sake.

The Third Station, Jesus falls for the first time.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

As Jesus falls for the first time, we have the opportunity to reflect on the paradox of his divine strength and human weakness. How is it possible that the son of the Almighty God could fall under the weight of a cross? Jesus is the Word of God, and God created the cosmos through him: “All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.” And yet now he falls. The same self-emptying love that flowed forth through him in the act of creation now brings him to share in the weakness of our human condition.


The Fourth Station, Jesus meets his mother.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

As Jesus meets his mother, we reflect on the paradox of Mary’s motherhood. Not only was she the human mother of the son of God–central to the mystery of the incarnation–she was also the joyful mother and the sorrowful mother at the same time. Her perfect love for her son is a model for all parents, and her joy in him was complete. Yet, Simeon prophesied to her: “yourself a sword will pierce.” As she embraces her son for the final time, that sorrow rests fully on her heart. Mary, who was obedient to the will of God in giving life to Jesus, now releases him from her arms so that he can go to his death in obedience to the will of the Father.

The Fifth Station, Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus to Carry His Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

As Simon helps Jesus carry his cross, we encounter the paradox of our participation in Jesus’ crucifixion. In our sinfulness, we are part of the crowd that yelled, “crucify him!” but, in our call to holiness, we are invited to walk the way of the cross with our Savior. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross could only be accomplished by God through him–no one else–and yet we are called to participate in his salvific work. We carry the cross with him, like Simon of Cyrene. We take up our own crosses and follow him.

The Sixth Station, Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Tradition tells us that Veronica’s act of compassion left an imprint of Jesus’ face on the linen cloth that she carried. Christ is the icon of the living God, and this image of his holy face is perhaps the first image that the Christian community received. The paradox of Veronica’s veil is that the face of God is revealed to us in the suffering of Jesus. The image of the living God is revealed to us in a new and mysterious way as Jesus approaches the death that awaits him at Calvary.

The Seventh Station, Jesus Falls for the Second Time
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

As Jesus falls for the second time, we meditate on the nature of falling down. What is not spoken in the title of this station is that Jesus gets up again and continues on the way of the cross. Every fall is an occasion to rise and press on. Jesus shows us that carrying the crosses of our lives will sometimes cause us to fall. But even our failings are opportunities for new growth and greater perseverance. Like Jesus, we must rise to our feet and continue on the path of holiness.

The Eighth Station, Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

The women of Jerusalem weep for Jesus as he passes by. Here we encounter the paradox of discipleship. The powerful and influential people who heard Jesus’ message have abandoned him. Even his closest disciples have fled and leave him alone on the way of the cross. But these women of Jerusalem step forward and witness to their faith in Jesus with their tears. They have very little power in society and almost no influence, but the strength of discipleship does not come from worldly power. It comes from the power of our witness to Christ.

The Ninth Station, Jesus Falls for the Third Time
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

The fact that Jesus falls three times is no coincidence. The number three signifies completeness or fullness. The human weakness that Jesus shows us by falling to the ground is a full sharing in our human condition. But the number three also indicates fullness on a divine level. Falling three times connects Jesus to his role in the Triune God. The paradox of Jesus’ third fall is that it reveals his humanity and his divinity in equal measure.

The Tenth Station, 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.

Jesus is stripped of his garments by his executioners as an act of humiliation. But Jesus’ willing death on the cross makes even this act of violence into a paradox. In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were naked and happy before they entered into sin. It was only after they sinned that they knew their nakedness as shame. What shame is nakedness to the sinless Christ? The soldiers think they can expose him to shame by stripping his garments, but they only further reveal his innocence and obedience.

The Eleventh Station, Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

As Jesus is nailed to the cross, the paradox of his crucifixion approaches its climax. In the Gospel of John, Jesus repeatedly talks about how he will be lifted up from the earth and glorified. When he says this, he is not primarily referring to his resurrection or ascension. He is talking about being lifted up from the earth on the wood of the cross. The cross is his glory because it is his ultimate expression of self-emptying love. His willing sacrifice has the power to transform the cross into the means of our salvation. It is by the power of his love that we are able to say, “Hail the cross, our only hope.”

The Twelfth Station, Jesus Dies on the Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

As Jesus gives up his spirit, we remember the ultimate paradox of the cross: by his death, Jesus conquers death. Nearly every aspect of Jesus’ life and ministry presents us with a reversal of our expectations: the last are first, the poor are favored, and the mighty are humbled. But no reversal is as dramatic as his victory on the cross. What appears to be the triumph of sin and death is actually the triumph of love and the dawning of new life.

The Thirteenth Station, Jesus is taken down from the Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Joseph of Arimathea gains permission to remove Jesus’ body from the cross to prepare it for burial. Jesus once paradoxically told a reluctant disciple to “let the dead bury the dead.” He was indicating that those who do not have faith in him cannot have true life in him. Now, we see his living followers deepen their faith in him by cleansing, anointing, and wrapping his dead body. In this one, unique moment, the rituals of burial become a foreshadowing of new and everlasting life.

The Fourteenth Station, Jesus is laid in the Tomb
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you…Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

As Jesus is laid in the tomb, we are reminded of the paradox of time. The resurrection already happened almost 2000 years ago, and yet we experience his time in the tomb as a true vigil of his resurrection. Christ has already come to the world, conquered sin, and promised us eternal life, and yet we still live in a world of sin, we still wait for him to come again in glory, and we still long for his presence. The tomb reminds us that we journey to Christ through the human experience of time. As Jesus rests in the tomb, we dwell with him between memory and hope.

Let us pray: Loving God, the mystery of your love turns upside down every human expectation. By his incarnation, your son showed us that God could become human, and by his cross he showed us that love could conquer death. As we journey through Lent, let our meditation on the cross of Christ be the path to your mercy and the doorway to true repentance. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.