Second Station — Jesus Takes Up His Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by Your holy Cross You have redeemed the world. The Second Station. Jesus takes up His Cross. The soldiers laid the rough wood on Your shoulders, Lord. Heavy. Splintered. The crossbeam, perhaps, on the way to the place where the upright already waited. You did not refuse it. You bent under its weight and began to walk. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter nine, You said, Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me. Daily. Not once. Not when convenient. Daily. Lord, I have a cross too. Tonight I want to acknowledge it. Not complain about it. Just see it for what it is, and lift it as You lifted Yours. My cross is the chronic illness I cannot heal. The relationship that costs me daily. The job that exhausts me. The temptation that returns each morning. The grief that has not lifted. The shame I have not yet let go of. You know what mine is. I have spent so much energy trying to put it down. To get out from under it. To rearrange my life so it is not so heavy. But You did not put Yours down. You took it up. You walked with it. You carried it all the way to where it would crush You, and beyond. Help me carry mine, Lord. Not bitterly. Not asking constantly why. But trustingly. Knowing that the cross You have allowed in my life is a means of grace, even when I cannot see how. Help me to see other people's crosses too. The colleague carrying something I do not know about. The neighbor whose smile hides exhaustion. The stranger in the grocery store whose patience is being tried. Make me gentler with everyone, because everyone is carrying a cross. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Have mercy on us, O Lord. Have mercy on us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.