Meditations on the Stations of the Cross: For Mothers (Part 1)


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Thank you to Andrea Nease, a CNML Mom to Mom Mentor and CNML Board member, for suggesting such a unique idea for a post!  Since there are so many stations, I will break up the meditations into 3 separate posts.

1) Pilate condemns Jesus to die.

You may be a mom whose child was just diagnosed with a serious illness.  You may be a nursing mom who is needing to go to extraordinary lengths to make enough milk for her baby or to keep nursing in spite of pain or food allergies.  You may be a nursing mom who was recently diagnosed with a serious illness and sadly you need to wean your baby.  You may be a mom whose family has experienced divorce, job loss or the death of a close family member.  There are many, many more examples of little ways moms "die to themselves" every day. However, don't lose hope!  By becoming human like us, Jesus experienced a lot of the same difficult situations.  How frightened He must have been when Pilate sentenced Him to death!  Tell Him about how scared you are.  Don't be afraid to cry.  Ask Jesus to hold you in His loving arms and to fill you with His peace during your times of trouble.

2) Jesus accepts His cross.

We all have crosses.  I don't know about you but when I had a nursing baby, a tantrum prone toddler or preschooler and a 6 year old at the same time, a lot of everyday life seemed like a cross (there were lots of joys, don't get me wrong, but life sure felt overwhelming).  Now that I do not have a nursing baby or a tantrum prone toddler, I have grouchy teenagers instead (smile).

Every season of motherhood will bring its share of joys and sorrows.  We need to embrace the joys and thank God for them and accept and ask God for help with the sorrows.  Jesus knew what He was about to face.  He accepted the Cross anyways, because He loves us and wants to share eternity with us.  He embraced the sorrow and the joy.  We are called to do the same.

3) Jesus falls for the first time.

Jesus is/was without sin, so His fall was a physical falling.  Ours can be physical, too, but often our "falls" are due to being human - like when you get distracted and burn dinner - or due to sin.  If we do sin, we can go to confession (if needed) and ask God for forgiveness.  Then we need to forgive ourselves, too.  Sometimes that part is harder than asking God for forgiveness!  However, once God forgives you, He forgets your sins.  That is the wonderful part.  The next step is get up and try again.  Jesus did that.  If anyone should have had the right to just lie there and not get up, it was Jesus.  He was in pain, exhausted, humiliated, and dreading what was next.  If you are not sure you can get up and try again, just ask Jesus for strength.  He is ready and waiting to help.

4) Jesus meets His mother, Mary.

Think back to when you first found out you were expecting, to when you first heard your baby's heartbeat or first saw Him during an ultrasound, to when you finally met your baby after He was born.  How joyful those times were! Having a baby isn't always pure bliss, however, when you remember those months of morning sickness or maybe you had Hyperemesis Gravidarum and were very sick the entire pregnancy and possibly afterwards.  And, of course, labor and delivery is not the most fun! It is possible that Mary's mind wandered back to all the sweet memories of Jesus as a newborn and all those wonderful years of nursing Jesus when she looked at her Son's badly beaten body.  It was bittersweet for her.  She knew Her Son needed to die such a death to save us, but she was probably also grateful for the 33 wonderful years she had with Him.  When our little ones scab their knees, hug and kiss us, bring us dandelions from the front yard, break arms, get their driver's licenses, and eventually leave home for college, we feel a little bit of what Mary felt that day - joy and sorrow mixed together.  For me, I try to focus on the good memories and to be grateful for all the special times I have shared with my children over the years.  There are also many wonderful future times to look forward to.  Maybe the thought of being with Jesus in Heaven one day comforted Mary a little bit when she met Him that day?

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