We’re nearly a week into Lent now. How is it going? Have there been slips? Chances are, there have been some … As they say so often at meetings: “Where to from here?”
At the third station of the Cross, we reflect on the first fall of Jesus. Though it’s not recorded as such in Scripture, it’s certain there were moments on the Calvary Road when Jesus collapsed beneath the uninvited and equally undeserved weight of the cross.
Falls are uncomfortable and unsettling. The ground is never welcome and we prefer to be on our feet. The fall has its place though, it reminds us of our fragility and weakness. It speaks to us of seeking help and support that feet may be found again. There’s a need to reach out to others – to God – for guidance. The helping hand is never more welcome.
So, a week in, fallen or not let us trust in the “helping hand” and not be afraid to seek its gentle and guiding way.
Patrick Kavanagh expresses this desire to rise again in one of his poems, entitled “From Failure Up”
Can a man grow from the dead clod of failure
Some consoling flower
Something humble as a dandelion or a daisy,
Something to wear as a buttonhole in Heaven?
Under that flat, flat grief of defeat maybe
Hope is a seed.
Maybe this is what he was born for, this hour
Of hopelessness.
Maybe it is here he must search
In this hell of unfaith
Where no one has a purpose
Where the web of Meaning is broken threads
And one man looks at another in fear.
O God can a man find You when he lies with his face downwards
And his nose in the rubble that was his achievements?
Is the music playing behind the door of despair?
O God give us purpose