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.
