The Second Station, Jesus takes up His Cross

A Splintered Sacrifice

The wood is rough against His back,
splintered, heavy, stained with fate.
A burden not His own to bear,
yet love bends low beneath its weight.

The world had shaped this cross of shame,
each sin a nail, each lie a beam.
Yet He, the blameless, takes it up,
the Lamb led forth, the silent King.

His hands once lifted to the blind,
now clasp the timber, torn and bruised.
The hands that calmed the raging sea
must steady now the storm of wounds.

A love that does not flinch or flee,
a mercy measured not by cost.
He bears what we refused to hold,
and walks the path to save the lost.

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Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, You embraced the cross
not as a weight forced upon You,
but as a burden freely shouldered,
for love, for us, for me.

Teach me to take up my own cross,
not in bitterness, nor in fear,
but in surrender to the will of the Father.

When I resist the weight of sacrifice,
remind me that love bears all things.
When I hesitate at the cost of discipleship,
let me see You, walking ahead.

May I not seek to cast off what refines me,
nor shrink from the path You call me to tread.
For in following You, even in suffering,
I find life, I find grace, I find You.

Amen.