In which I meander about Live Stations of the Cross

Again, been awhile.  I do have stuff to write, but I procrastinate and put off writing.  It's a bad habit, I know. So, for all of those who don't know, I'm on my internship at Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Collinsville, IL.  It's going very well and I'm enjoying it.  However, that's not what I really want to talk about today; we'll see if I want to talk about it later.

Today's topic: Live Stations of the Cross, more specifically, one that happened between 1990-1992.  No, didn't happen during that entire period, but I was in the first years of school, and my memories of that time are hit or miss due to my youth.  One of the things I do remember is a Live Stations of the Cross, or Passion Play, that I believe my oldest brother participated in (I also believe that his CCD class put it on for the chapel parish at Langley AFB).  I do remember that the part I remember was dark, at least in the church, and I couldn't see (because I was short), but I could hear.  For between 6th-8th graders, they had good acting skills in my perception, but I was scared.  The yells and the shouts when Jesus (obviously, the boy playing him) was being crucified totally freaked me out.  Again, I was frightened.

I'll get back to that in a moment.  The reason I bring this up is because the school's 7th graders did a live Stations of the Cross in the church last night.  Their version totally reminded me of the one from my youth, as they were portraying the same event.

As I was saying, I was frightened.  But imagine how those who loved Jesus and saw Him crucified felt: terrified, shocked, I'm sure they probably were crying.  How could they understand that what Jesus was accepting was out of love, not just for them, but for all of humanity.  Love was crucified on the Cross.  It was confusing, it still is confusing.  We can't fully comprehend it.  He did it because He loves us, He still loves us, even when we, by our actions, provide more weight of sin for Him to shoulder.  This should scandalize us, each and every one of us, that we are, in a sense, ourselves nailing His hands and feet to the cross, that we are the ones scourging Him, and having Him carry the cross.

Yet, we can be the ones wiping His face, taking Him down from the cross; all love, but particularly His Love,  calls us to conversion, to conform our lives to His own.  Yes, God loves us, but He's calling us to be more than we are now, He's calling us to be saints;  He's calling us to abide in Him, so that we allow Him to abide in us.

The scandal of the cross, should not be scandalous just because those people, in Jesus' time performed His crucifixion; it should also be scandalous when we ourselves participate in crucifying Him by our actions as well.

We are all called to conversion, not to get stuck in a rut and give up, but to conform our lives to Christ.  We're called to live with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for eternal life, but it's up to us to answer and say, "Yes, Lord! I will follow.  I'll need your help, and I may fall, but please, Lord, let me keep my eyes on You."  It can be hard, but we are not hopeless cases.