Along the Via Dolorosa (the Way of Sorrows), Our Lord was accompanied by a great escort of people from all walks of life, each playing a part in Our Lord’s Passion. Distinguished from this company are three divisions: 1) Those who load the Savior with the Cross, 2) Those who literally carry the Cross with Him, and 3) Those who spiritually participate with Jesus in bearing the Cross. [3]
• Within the first group are those who lay the cross upon Our Lord. Foremost among this assembly were those responsible for His unjust trial, the tortures that accompanied it, and the death sentence proclaimed against Him. These men, the leaders of the first ecclesia, heard Jesus’ holy doctrine, witnessed many of His miracles and signs, and yet refused to acknowledge Him as the Messiah, the Son of God.
On the first Palm Sunday, Christ entered Jerusalem as the city prepared for the Jewish Passover, and all that happened concerning Jesus filled the chief priests and scribes with fury. They were scandalized by the honor shown to Jesus by the multitude, who strewed both their garments and tree boughs before Him and who praised Him, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” [4]
After Jesus threw the moneychangers from the temple, the lame and blind went to Him and He healed them. “And the chief priests and scribes, seeing the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying: Hosanna to the son of David; were moved with indignation.” [5]
The Pharisees and the Sadducees would not leave Christ alone. They demanded explanations from Our Lord. Then they devised various tests for Him, and they asked from whence came His authority. He in turn tested them with His question about the source of John the Baptist’s authority to baptize. To the ongoing exchanges, Jesus added two parables, which further angered them, for they knew He spoke of them.[6] Finally, they tried one last tactic by feigning goodwill toward His mission, while publicly asked Him cunning questions to ensnare Him before all the people, who “were in admiration of His doctrine.” [7]
In their last attempt to trick Him and justify themselves before the people, Jesus severely rebuked them. From that day, as the Gospel of St. Matthew records, no man dared ask Him any more questions.[8]
It was on the latter occasion that Our Lord eight times openly described these men and their disciples (the Herodians) as “hypocrites.”[9] In the same discourse, He also called them “blind guides,” [10]“foolish and blind,”[11] “whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but are full of dead men’s bones and all filthiness,”[12] “full of hypocrisy and iniquity,” [13]“sons of them that kill the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of thy fathers,” [14]and addressed them as “you serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?” [15]
In their sanctimonious rage, they remained silent – but they chose to act quickly and furtively. Soon “were gathered together the chief priests and ancients of the people into the court of the high priest, who was called Caiphas. And they consulted together, that by subtlety they might apprehend Jesus, and put him to death. But they said: Not on the festival day, lest perhaps there should be a tumult among the people.” [16]
Those Gospel sentences reveal both their craftiness in plotting Christ’s death and their over-riding desire for human respect – for it was not God they feared, but the people! It was they, the elders of God’s first chosen ones, who plotted and carried out the stealthy and illegal arrest of Our Lord, twisting His words to suit their own purposes, allowing servants to spit in His face and strike Him, accusing the Lord Himself of blasphemy, and stirring up the multitude to a murderous frenzy, demanding Christ’s death! Yet, even when they had attained Jesus’ sentence of death by crucifixion, they were still not satisfied. These instigators chose to follow Christ to Golgotha, so as to relish and gloat over every moment of His suffering.
Also among this first group were the soldiers and executioners of Rome. They were not down-trodden servants of the empire, forced to comply with an appalling command against one whom even Pilate, their governor, declared a “just man.”[17] Rather, these were debased men of the world, their interests malicious and sadistic. They delighted in scourging Our Lord almost to the point of death. Then, by their own volition, they clothed Him in purple, crowned Him with thorns, struck His Holy Face with a reed, spat on Him, insolently knelt before Him and adored Him, and eagerly led Him out to crucify Him.
In imitating the men described above, those who lay the Cross upon Our Lord only follow the Way of the Cross because they take a malicious delight in abusing Jesus. Accordingly, such people “are all guilty of His Passion, and increase it by their cruelty and mockery.” [18]
They, too, carry a cross, but it is not a cross of faith and virtue. Rather, it is a cross of their own making, formed by their obstinate rejection of grace and loaded with their own sins. They are driven by any one, or more, of the seven deadly sins: pride, anger, envy, greed, gluttony, lust, and sloth. Through their own free will, they become the agents of Satan, “and it is his yoke that they drag along. This is an inglorious cross – a fatal cross, which leads not to redemption, but to eternal death. Whoever does not embrace the Cross of Jesus must bear that of Satan.” [19]
•In the second group are those who literally carry the Cross with Jesus. “And as they led him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country; and they laid the cross on him to carry after Jesus.”[20] In this escort were also the two thieves who were to be crucified beside Our Lord.
These three men are historical figure-types of souls who initially carry crosses only because they are compelled by exterior forces. The internal reactions of free will to the events on the Way of the Cross determine their individual and eternal fates.
In the case of Simon the Cyrene: This man was returning from the country and had just entered the city gate when the soldiers forced him to take up Our Lord’s Cross. The soldiers did not act from a motivation of mercy, but because Jesus’ weakness and exhaustion was so great that they feared He would die before He was crucified.
Simon had his own plans for the day, not knowing “that grace was lying in wait for him on the road to Calvary - that hidden in the cross of pain and shame was laid up for him the highest honor and never-ending joy.”[21] So, too, we “rise in the morning and make our plans for the day. [But] God has made His for us. Turning a corner, we find the Cross of Christ awaiting us, and with it the grace that, with a little effort on our part, will enable us to bear it bravely after our Master.” [22]
So we understand, “It is for Simon’s sake much more than for His own that Our Lord shared His Cross with him. The virtue that came from its contact with the Son of God went out to him who followed in His footsteps. Quickly Simon learned his lesson. From bearing the Cross reluctantly, he came to bear it patiently, willingly, joyfully, reaching thus the highest perfection of which love is capable on earth.” [23]
As for the two thieves, individuals who spiritually belong to their entourage will interiorly select one of two choices, for there are no others. They will either trace the final steps of the man traditionally known as “Dismas, the Good Thief,” thus saving their souls - or they will stumble after the unrepentant thief, cursing fate and mocking Jesus to their last breaths, and thus die in their sins.
In their final choices, both thieves illustrated the final results of grace received or grace rejected. On the bitter Way of the Cross, Dismas and the Unrepentant Thief saw Jesus fall three times, watched as Veronica courageously wiped Our Lord’s face, heard Him console the weeping women, and witnessed Christ’s meeting with His Mother, the Virgin Mary.
Both were crucified with Jesus – “And they that were crucified with Him reviled Him.” [24]Still, the final hours of trial and grace were not yet over for them, and how each interiorly met his final moments were quite different.
As the Gospel of St. Luke briefly testifies, the Good Thief’s fellow robber blasphemed Jesus, after all three were crucified: “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.” [25]
To the Unrepentant Thief, Our Lord did not respond. Jesus, being God, knew this man resisted His grace. Accordingly, this thief possessed neither compunction of heart nor any faith in Him. Yet the mystery of grace was at work, and the Savior waited - but for what? Christ on the Cross, whose very Presence is grace, awaited the free will reaction from “the other” - Dismas, the Good Thief - whose soul was now stirred to perfect contrition.
“But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil. And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.” [26]
In those few sentences, so painfully uttered from his own cross, the Good Thief first reproached the other robber for scorning God and for his lack of pious fear of the Lord, even when death was approaching. With charity and honesty, Dismas included himself when he confessed their sentences as just punishment for their crimes. In doing so, the Good Thief showed his resignation and acceptance of his own cruel end as his penance. He not only defended Jesus as innocent, but he acknowledged Him as the Messiah and called Him “Lord.” Finally, he expressed his hope in Jesus, with his humble request of only Christ’s remembrance when He came into His Kingdom. And then came the Savior’s promise: “Amen, I say to you, this day thou shall be with Me in Paradise.” [27]
But what of the Unrepentant Thief? When rebuked by the Good Thief, the unrepentant one had no more words to hurl against Our Lord. He had no defense at all. Rather than follow the just example of the Good Thief, he instead chose to sink into final despair.
Like the Good Thief, he could have repented and confessed his sins. Like the Good Thief, he could have offered his sufferings as reparation for his crimes. Like the Good Thief, his own cross could have become a source of merit - if only he had accepted God's grace. But he did not. In his soul, he turned away from the Lord, and the final grace offered him was lost.
Two sinners, both given the same grace to die alongside Our Lord, to repent and to confess their sins, to seek pardon, to offer their deaths in reparation for their sins, to receive God's forgiveness after confession, to ask the Lord to remember them, to accept the fruits of the Redemption, and to merit eternal salvation. But only one – Dismas, the Good Thief – earned the Savior’s promise of salvation.
•Finally, there is the third escort: Those who participate in spirit on Our Lord’s Way of the Cross. “And there followed him a great multitude of people, and of women, who bewailed and lamented him.” [28]
In the first part of this division, an immense number felt sympathy for Our Lord’s fate, and the women openly mourned Him. “This expression of their grief was right, and required great courage, since it was made in the presence and the hearing of Our Lord’s triumphant foes. What was imperfect about it was that they regarded Our Lord’s Passion as pure misfortune, and bewailed it as such.” [29]
Of this assembly, the majority are a type of the souls who feel pity for the sufferings of Jesus, but who lack an effective compassion – that is, good deeds. Still, Our Lord receives such tokens of grief and rewards it in His own way, as He did when offering His pity to the women and their children in His prophecy of Jerusalem. [30]
According to Tradition, out of this throng was a woman named Veronica. Of a rare and different type, she displayed her compassion in a small but practical, noble and courageous act. Despite the threatening presence of the first escort, she offered Christ her veil to wipe His beaten and bloody Face. This one service was her confession of faith and fidelity in Jesus, and He rewarded her by miraculously imprinting His Holy Face on the cloth.
Another minority within this group were “all his acquaintance, and the women that had followed him from Galilee, [who] stood afar off, beholding these things.” Among them were Joseph of Arimethea, who would beg Pilate for the body of Jesus and laid Him in an untouched sepulchre, and the women who could only show their love for Him in their plans to return to His tomb with spices and ointments.[31]
Finally, we find in this multitude one who stands apart, the holiest of all women – the Virgin Mary, of whom Tradition relates awaited Her Divine Son on the Way of the Cross. “The Son and the Mother meet; but it is as the Redeemer and Co-Redemptrix of the world. The sacrifice that their mutual love increases occupies them entirely…and now His hour has come, the hour of which He had so often spoken to Her at Nazareth, the hour that was the subject of such earnest prayer put up together; the hour for which He had promised to strengthen Her that, first in privilege as in dignity, She might drink deeper than any other of His chalice.” [32]
What, then, do we learn from these escorts on the Way of the Cross? “All of us have a cross to bear, [be it] the cross of sin and passion, the cross of misfortunes permitted by God, or the cross of penance and of love...Whoever we are, willing or unwillingly, we must form part of the escort of our Cross-bearing Savior.” [33]
All we have to do is choose the escort to which we wish to belong.
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Secrets of the Catholic City is Mrs. Bartold's monthly column in Catholic Family News (CFN). "Our Lord's Escorts on the Way of the Cross" was published in CFN's March 2010 issue. All Rights Reserved World-wide by the author.
Marianna Bartold, founder of Keeping It Catholic, is the author of “The Age of Mary” Study Guides, a series of “digitally delivered” Catholic unit studies for homeschooled teens - as well as adults or anyone who wishes to grow closer “to Jesus through Mary.” Her other works include the upcoming digital Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings) Catholic Study Guide. She is the author of the Keeping It Catholic Home Education Guide books (Volumes I and II). Mrs. Bartold was the original homeschool editor of Sursum Corda and the founding publisher of The Catholic Family’s Magnificat! Magazine.
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Endnotes
1] Lk. 23: 1-15, The Holy Bible: Douay-Rheims Version [Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, 1899 edition photographically reproduced].
2] Jn. 19:17.
3] Meditation on the Passion [Westminster, MD: The Newman Press, reprinted February, 1963], p. 228. Compiled from various sources associated with the nuns of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with an Introduction by Rev. Reginald Walsh, O.P. Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, Feb. 23, 1922.
4] Matt. 21: 8-10.
5] Matt. 21: 15, emphasis added.
6] Matt. 21: 28-46.
7] Matt. 22:33.
8] Matt. 22: 46.
9] Matt. 22:18, see also Matt. 23: 13-15, 23, 25, 27, 29.
10] Matt. 23: 16, 24.
11] Matt. 23: 17.
12] Matt. 23: 27.
13] Matt. 23: 28.
14] Matt. 23: 31-32.
15] Matt. 23: 33.
16] Matt. 26: 3-5.
17] Matt. 27: 24.
18] Meditation on the Passion, loc. cit.
19] Ibid.
20] Lk. 23: 26.
21] Meditation on the Passion, op.cit., p. 231.
22] Ibid.
23] Meditation on the Passion, op. cit., p. 230.
24] Mk. 15:32.
25] Lk. 23:39.
26] Lk. 23:40-43, emphasis added.
27] Lk. 23: 43, emphasis added.
28] Lk. 23:27.
29] Meditation on the Passion, op.cit., p. 231.
30] Lk. 23: 28-31.
31] Lk. 23: 50-56.
32] Meditation on the Passion, loc.cit.
33] Ibid.
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