Totus Tuus - Totus 2us

5ª estación - El Cireneo ayuda a Jesús a llevar la cruz       
_{Meditaciones y Oraciones del Cardenal Joseph Ratzinger (Papa Benedicto XVI)}

5ème station - Jésus est aidé par le Cyrénéen à porter sa croix       
_{Méditations et prières du Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pape Benoît XVI) au Colisée}

5. Station - Simon von Zyrene hilft Jesus das Kreuz tragen     
_{Meditationen und Gebete von Kardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Papst Benedikt XVI) am Kolosseum}

with Julian of Norwich      

_{We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.}

_{And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. (Luke 23: 26)}

with Pope St John Paul in the Jubilee Year
<sub>Good Friday, 21 April 2000, at the Colosseum in Rome
- also in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish</sub>

_{They compelled Simon.
The Roman soldiers did this because they feared that in his exhaustion the Condemned Man would not be able to carry the Cross as far as Golgotha. Then they would not be able to carry out the sentence of crucifixion.
They were looking for someone to help carry the Cross.
Their eyes fell on Simon. They compelled him to take the weight upon his shoulders. We can imagine that Simon did not want to do this and objected. Carrying the cross together with a convict could be considered an act offensive to the dignity of a free man. Although unwilling, Simon took up the Cross to help Jesus.}

_{In a Lenten hymn we hear the words: “Under the weight of the Cross Jesus welcomes the Cyrenean”. These words allow us to discern a total change of perspective: the divine Condemned One is someone who, in a certain sense, “makes a gift” of his Cross. Was it not he who said: “He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:38)?
Simon receives a gift.
He has become “worthy” of it.
What the crowd might see as an offence to his dignity has, from the perspective of redemption, given him a new dignity.
In a unique way, the Son of God has made him a sharer in his work of salvation.
Is Simon aware of this?
The evangelist Mark identifies Simon of Cyrene as the “father of Alexander and Rufus” (15:21).}

_{If the sons of Simon of Cyrene were known to the first Christian community, it can be presumed that Simon too, while carrying the Cross, came to believe in Christ. From being forced, he freely accepted, as though deeply touched by the words: “Whoever does not carry his cross with me is not worthy of me.”
By his carrying of the Cross, Simon was brought to the knowledge of the gospel of the Cross.
Since then, this gospel has spoken to many, countless Cyreneans, called in the course of history to carry the cross with Jesus.}

_{Prayer
O Mary, who walked the way of the Cross with your Son,
your mother’s heart torn by grief, but mindful always of your fiat
and fully confident that He to whom nothing is impossible
would be able to fulfil his promises,
implore for us and for the generations yet to come
the grace of surrender to God’s love.
Help us, in the face of suffering, rejection, and trial,
however prolonged and severe, never to doubt his love.
To Jesus, your Son, honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.}

with Papa San Giovanni Paolo in 2003
_{- also in French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish}

_{From the Gospel according to Mark (15, 21-22)
They compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his Cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.}

_{Meditation
Simon of Cyrene, called upon to carry the Cross, doubtless had no wish to do so. He was forced to. He walked beside Christ, bearing the same burden. When the condemned man's shoulders became too weak, he lent him his. He was very close to Jesus, closer than Mary, closer than John who - though he too was a man - was not called upon to help. They called on him, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as we learn from the Gospel of Mark (Mk 15, 21). They summoned him, they compelled him.
How long did he continue to resent being forced into this? How long did he continue to walk beside this condemned man, all the while making it clear that he had nothing in common with him, nothing to do with his crime, nothing to do with his punishment? How long did he go on like that, torn within himself, a barrier of indifference standing between him and the Man who was suffering? "I was naked, I was thirsty, I was in prison", I carried the Cross. "Did you carry it with me?" "Did you really carry it with me to the very end?"
We do not know. St Mark simply records the names of the Cyrenian's sons, and tradition has it that they were members of the Christian community close to Saint Peter.}

_{Acclamation
Christ, Good Samaritan, neighbour to the poor, the sick, the lowly.
Christe, eleison.
Christ, Servant of the Eternal Father, you consider done to you every act of love towards the exile, the outcast, the stranger.
Christe, eleison.}