The journey to Calvary has left much to the imagination of the faithful. The stations of the Cross are the outcome of prayerful meditation on this journey to Calvary. In this pious exercise we contemplate all the possible things which could have happened to Jesus. In the condition in which Jesus was we can imagine that it did not take long for Him to fall under the weight of the cross. Among the passers-by and the curious there must have been some of His admirers and some of His disciples who wanted to be of some help to Him but like some of the Apostles could not muster enough courage to publicly show their allegiance to Him. It is only a small group of women who, filled with anguish in seeing the plight of the 'miracle worker,' forced their way through the crowd and got close enough to speak words of commiseration and of encouragement. This group followed Jesus very closely. In their midst is the Mother of Jesus, who finally is close enough to be seen by her Son and maybe to speak to Him. Mary who had accepted the mission of being the mother of the Redeemer, who for all her life must have wondered what "the sacrifice" of her Son was really going to be, is now faced with the fulfillment of the words of the prophet Isaiah "There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to Him." What Mary had constantly feared throughout her life, was now here in front of her eyes. Her Son, the Messiah, the King, descendant of David, wearing a crown of thorns, humiliated by the most dreadful sentence, condemned to die on the cross.

Could Mary at this Point remember what Simeon had told her at the Temple some thirty years before, "You see this child.. he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, and a sword will pierce your own soul too - so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare." (Luke 2:34-35)

We can be almost sure that Mary in accepting the future sufferings of her Son never dreamed that He would have been reduced to the state He was now. Where is the beauty which Mary must have seen looking at His Face as she tried to visualize the Face of God on Him. Could she really look at Him now covered with blood, His Face dirty from the spitting of the soldiers, His cheeks swelled by the many blows, and look at the crown on His head.... Can anyone describe what the sensitive soul of Mary must have felt at this encounter? Could we dare to think that in the midst of all this anguish, Mary could still have enough strength to encourage Jesus to be strong enough to reach Calvary so as to finish the work for which He had come into this world as He had said to Pilate: "Yes, I am a king, I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of the truth listen to my voice." (John 18:37)

Mary, in the company of St. John, and the other women, kept following this sad procession, kept trying to console Jesus, but Jesus is much more aware that "this is to fulfill the Scriptures" (Mark 14:49), and even though the human consolation and the presence of those who really loved Him was of great help in carrying on Its mission, He must go on and accept the humiliation because as Isaiah said: "It was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured." (Isaiah 53:4)

The soldiers kept pulling Jesus on his feet, but he kept falling under the burden of the cross. The soldiers wanted to reach Calvary and go on with the execution. So they forced a passerby, maybe someone who had been courageous enough to push his way to the front line and who had, maybe, insulted one of the soldiers for being so cruel to the prisoners. If he was bold enough to insult the soldiers than let him be part of the procession. They forced him to carry the cross. The Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke report the incident and even give us the name: "As they were leading him away they seized on a man, Simon from Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and made him shoulder the cross and carry it behind Jesus." (Luke 23:26)

Jesus was on His way to Calvary not because of the hatred of the High Priest or the envy of the members of the Sanhedrin or the power of the Procurator, "Surely you know I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you " (John 19: 11), but because this was the fulfillment of His mission: Knowing everything that was going to happen to Him, Jesus came forward and said, "I am He... If I am the one you are looking for, let these others go. " (John 18:4,5,8) So Jesus who had said in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father who would promptly send me more than twelve legions of angels in my defense " (Matt. 26:53) accepted willingly all the punishment and insults which the soldiers and the crowd were heaping upon Him. But there were no legions of angels comforting Him, just a few people who were doing their best to be close enough to Him to be heard.