Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of his Garments

By Deacon Steve Yanish
St. Francis Xavier Parish, Sartell

St. Francis Xavier in Sartell

As we arrive at the place of execution, I am shocked and ashamed as the soldiers so roughly rip the clothes off your scourged and welted back. I turn away. I cannot bear to watch, but I am also forced to look and see you stripped of your dignity. I want to come forward and embrace you and cover you with robes of strength, power and light. But I don’t. I am stripped of my own courage and filled with guilt.

But you, O Lord, are filled with love and compassion. You forgive your assailants for they don’t even know what they are doing. I am feeling exposed and vulnerable like you are. I need you more than ever. I need you to clothe me with a newness of life so that I may see you in the lowly and needy all around me. I need you to give me strength and courage to step out in faith  to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and visit the sick and imprisoned. “O Lord, I need Thee every hour!”

Author: The Visitor

The Visitor is the official newpaper for the Diocese of Saint Cloud.

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