The Stations of the Cross: First Station "Jesus is Condemned to Death"
The Stations of the Cross
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.
Poem
Carved in wood,
mounted in simplicity.
Revealing the complexity
of each human journey.
Jesus had once said quietly;
“Has no one condemned you, neither do I, go and sin no more!”
Now bound before Pilate, innocent,
he himself condemned for words that healed humanities very core.
Meditation
Jesus said, love is all you need or love makes the world go round or words of similar sentiment. He said love many times. He wrapped up that word love in a parable, a metaphor, in each exchange with the human heart. When you lose love or forget it exists, you lose hope, you distance yourself from your soul, you lose your very self.
Love is not absent from the way of the Cross. Love is at the very core. Pilate wants the morning to end, he wants to go about his daily business. He has no time for this trial. Yet he is afraid. A man of fear, fear of what others think. He is powerless to change this scene even though he is a man of power and influence. Love entered Pilate’s household at Jerusalem, love stood before the gaze and power of men. Love was rejected. In pain, in rejection, in bloody savagery the way of the cross began. Love, the beating sacred heart, the compassionate Suffering Servant, stepped into the dusty street where his mercy had been revealed time and again.
Fr Patrick Brennan 2025 Lent ©
Source: http://humblepiety.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-stations-of-cross-first-station.html
