Jesus Caritas

Of all the people in the crowd no one was more obscure, more insignificant in appearance than Simon of Cyrene. He would not have been noticed, but now someone was needed to carry a heavy wooden cross. It was also an opportunity to associate someone else with the abjection of a man condemned to death. Simon was just the man needed. A poor labourer, he could be imposed on at will. It did not matter what he thought or felt.

Had you any idea, Simon how great and meaningful what you were asked to do was? How hard it is for us to accept this truth that the very part of our lives best disposed to be coupled with the work of the world’s Redemption is that which we often consider as insignificant, unimportant or even irrelevant. We want to free our lives from their poverty and lowliness. Yet it is precisely our poverty that  makes us fit to be called to the service of love in the footsteps of the Saviour. You cannot call the wealthy, the handsomely dressed, the well housed, but only the poor, the unimportant passer by, the man to whom nobody pays attention, but who like Simon, can be counted on to do a hard job and not complain. May we remain among the ordinary folk, who do not hit the headlines, humble enough to be fit for the service of the Saviour.