Hi friends. It’s Holy Week, and I wanted to share images and reflections I wrote a few years ago for a Stations of the Cross event at church. There are 14 Stations adapted for Substack and socials, so I’ll be sending out more emails than usual this week. Feel free to read what you like and skip what you need to, or read them all next Friday. Regardless of how you go about it, I invite you to reflect on the image, Scripture passage, and meditation/reflection question in each email.
They forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’s cross. He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. John 19:14-17
Jesus’s strength is diminishing, and perhaps the soldiers think Jesus will not be able to carry the cross all the way to the place of his execution. So, they randomly grab Simon from the crowd and order him to carry the cross for Jesus. Like Simon, there are many people and organizations throughout the world that help carry the burden of vulnerable people.
Project Rescue is an anti-human trafficking organization with operations in Europe and southeast Asia. Project Rescue focuses on prevention, intervention, and restoration of women and children touched by human trafficking.
Suggested Action: Go to ProjectRescue.com, bookmark the site, and come back to it later to get more information or to donate.
Suggested Prayer: Lord, help me be one who will bear Your cross on behalf of others. May Your mercy be with all of the helpers and healers and cross-carriers throughout the world, and may their presence serve as a sign of Your presence even in the darkest places.1
Thanks for reading. I’m a book-obsessed pastor, seminarian, podcaster, author, and life and leadership coach inviting you to flourish in the last place you’d like to be. For essays and podcasts that come straight to your inbox, subscribe to this Dear Exiles newsletter in the subscription box above. Fun fact: I’m also the author of Dear Boy:, An Epistolary Memoir and the host of the Your Pastor Reads Books podcast.
Adapted from Jesuit Refugee Services 2020 Stations of the Cross guide.