The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus Carries the Cross
When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him.” … They cried out, “Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha.
(John 19:6,15–17)
Reflection Prayer
The weight of all the sins of the world pressed upon You as they handed You the cross. The pain that pierced Your Heart was searing. The sins committed and to be committed weighed upon Your Heart. The humiliations You suffered from the mocking of the crowd and the pain from the heavy weight of the cross upon Your body was only overshadowed by the pain burning in Your Heart.
You took the cross and looked up as You knew Your time on earth was almost through. While the physical pain was intense, You also knew there would soon be joy as You would be with Your Heavenly Father again, and what You came to accomplish on earth would be fulfilled. You would provide a way for all God’s children to be reconciled to God the Father through You. Generations to come would be able to be saved, and one day, after their time on earth was complete, they would spend eternity with You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
Your Heart was filled with love knowing You would be able to give us that same love. The love from the Father would sustain You throughout the rest of Your Passion. It is the same love You give us as we carry our crosses on this earth today.
Jesus, the pain of the cross that weighed upon You was intense, but not as intense as the pain of the sins that weighed upon Your Heart throughout Your Passion. May God have mercy on me for all the pain I caused You by my sins. May I seek to console Your Heart for all the pain my sins and the sins of the whole world have caused You. I thank You for the love with which You carried the cross, and the love with which, in Your great mercy, You give me to strengthen me as I carry my cross today.
*Reflection Prayer is taken from The Passion Suffered by the Heart of Jesus: Prayerful Reflections on the Stations of the Cross.
*Scripture passages in this meditation are taken from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE).