Seventh Station: Jesus Falls for the Second Time

I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath;
he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light…
He has blocked my ways with hewn stones
he has made my paths crooked…
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes.

– Lamentations 3:1-2, 9, 16

He falls in accordance with the will of the Father, a will expressed in the words of the Prophet. He falls in accordance with his own will: “How then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Mt 26:54). “I am a worm, and no man” (Ps 22:6). Not even an Ecce homo here (Jn 19:5), but something much less, much worse.

A worm creeps along the ground, whereas man, like a king among creatures, walks above it. A worm will gnaw even at wood: like a worm, remorse for sin gnaws at man’s conscience. Remorse for the second fall.