Falling – And Getting Up Again

By Bridget Taumoepeau

Timothy Radcliffe OP, writes in the introduction to his meditation on the Stations of the Cross that “The Lord is with us, especially when we seem to be stuck and have lost the way forward. He walks with us, trips with us when we stumble and helps us to our feet again.”

While we may particularly remember the Way of the Cross during Lent, we are reminded of Christ’s passion and death whenever we are in a Catholic church. On the Way to Calvary, Jesus does not just fall once, but three times. Jesus, whom we usually think of as perfect, as divine, as indeed he is, is also human. He knows what it is like to suffer, even fall. On one occasion he even needs the help of another, Simon of Cyrene.

These are powerful images – the saviour who falls, just as we fall. But falling also reminds us about getting up again, and all that that entails. Pope Francis was asked, early in his pontificate, by a young man, about the personal doubts that he had about his faith. The Holy Father responded that often we fail, and even fall, but it was not the falling that he should worry about – but how he would get up again and carry on.

God is always there to pick us up and get us on our feet again.