I’m always struck by the portrayal of Simon of Cyrene in the movie, The Passion of the Christ. In the biblical account of Jesus’ passion, Simon is the man coming in from the countryside whom the Roman soldiers conscript to help Jesus carry the cross. In the movie, we see him very resistant at first. He has his son with him and wants to shield him from the spectacle of the apparent criminals being led off to die. You get the sense that he doesn’t want to be bothered by any of the horrific things going on, he just wants to live his life.
In the end, the soldiers win out and Simon says, “Alright, but remember, I’m an innocent man, forced to carry the cross of a condemned man.” As they continue along the way, with Simon helping to carry the heavy load of the cross alongside the Lord, you can see Simon begin to have a change of heart. He sees the overwhelming cruelty of the Roman soldiers who continue to taunt, beat and disrespect Jesus as he stumbles along. Jesus, however, doesn’t react, doesn’t curse them, he just continues the journey along with Simon. Simon looks into the eyes of Jesus and sees somebody more than just a condemned criminal.
Then comes the decisive moment. Jesus, in his extremely weakened state, collapses to the ground in spite of Simon’s help. The soldiers continue to mock Jesus while the crowd of bystanders kick Him. Simon, overcome with compassion, gets into the middle of the violent mob and yells, “Stop, stop! Leave him alone. If you don’t stop, I won’t carry that cross one more step.” Even though the soldiers laugh at him, they honor his request. Jesus’ path to calvary continues, now alongside a friend.
Something clearly transformed inside the heart of Simon to bring him from indifference to compassion. I think part of that interior transformation involved Simon realizing that, contrary to what he said when the soldiers first stopped him, he wasn’t a completely innocent man. Looking at Jesus and recognizing Him for the innocent Victim that He was, Simon realized that his heart was hardened before. His heart was too ready to look away from suffering. But now, having borne the Cross with His Savior, he repents. Not only does he not turn away from Jesus’ suffering, he is willing to put himself in harm’s way to stop it.
This example that Simon gives shows us what it looks like to answer the challenge of Jesus in the Gospel. He warns us not to be too quick to condemn another person, because we likely have a lot of work to do on ourselves. His image is so memorable: “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?” Think about that example for a minute. Obviously Jesus is exaggerating with the example of a beam in our own eye. But think about what that would mean to have a two by four coming out of your eyeball. Everywhere you turn, your going to be smacking that into something!
This is a reminder for us of the fact that we are all too ready to notice the sin in someone else, but slow to realize the sins that we harbor that affect others. The most important thing is for us to let the Lord deal with those sins of ours which are harming others whether we realize it or not. When we allow that Lord to relieve us of that burden of sin, then it prepares us to address the sin of others in a loving way.
Simon needed that time of encounter with the depths of the Lord’s suffering in order to repent of his own indifference. The Lord’s call for you and me is to let His life-changing grace heal the damage of our own sin so that we can then be a vessel of that grace to heal someone else’s sin. So often we just excuse our own sin and push it down, spending our time noticing the faults and failings of others as a defence mechanism against listening to our own guilty consciences. It’s so easy to point out the faults and failings of our in-laws, co-workers, government officials and celebrities, but much harder to take the time to examine our own conscience and go to Confession. As I heard it said once, “Don’t forget that when you point the finger at another, there are three fingers pointing right back at you.”
I’ve always been inspired by seeing the huge lines of men and women for Confession at big events like the Catholic Men’s and Women’s Conferences that just recently happened in the diocese. But how often do we see a line for Confession at our own parish? There is something to the fact of swallowing up our pride in order to wait in line for the healing grace of forgiveness from the Lord! My prayer is that this Lenten season, we make a commitment as a parish to line up for the Lord! When others see our willingness to admit our need of grace and healing, they are more likely to seek it out as well. Some of you can probably remember lines for the COnfessional from when you were young. That is a trend worth bringing back, with God’s help!
When was the last time you went to Confession? Was it a year ago during Lent? Five years ago? Ten? More than ten? One of the precepts of the Church, the minimum requirements for practicing our faith given to us by the Church with Jesus’ authority, is that each Catholic is required to confess his or her sins at least once a year. This allows us to be fully prepared to receive Communion in a state of grace and also gives us that cleansing which allows us to be vessels of grace and mercy for others who are struggling in sin. If we refuse to go, not only are we disregarding the authority of the Church, which is a grave sin, we are keeping ourselves from the grace of forgiveness which Jesus wants to pour out on us!
So this is my challenge to you this Lent and beyond: line up for the Lord! Go with your spouse, with your children and grandchildren, with your friends. Go to Confession not just once a year to fulfill your obligation, but go regularly so your heart can be cleansed even from venial sin and can be strengthened to help others in their struggles. Let’s not stay away from the powerful mercy of Jesus that He gives us so generously in the Sacrament of Reconciliation! He wants to heal us so that we can be channels of grace more effectively for our brothers and sisters.
+ Heavenly Father, thank you for pouring out your mercy on us through the Sacrament of Reconciliation given to us by Your Son. Jesus, help us to avail ourselves of your mercy often in Confession so we can be more perfect instruments of Yours in our daily lives. Holy Spirit, help us to recognize those sins we have been holding onto and give us the courage to bring them to the Lord for healing in Reconciliation. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen. +