Becoming Simon

No not Simon Cowell. I’m talking about a different Simon, more commonly known as Simon of Cyrene. The Bible tells us that he was the one forced into helping Jesus carry his cross. When I was younger I didn’t view Simon as that great of a guy. After all it’s not like he volunteered to help Christ or even wanted to. Someone else made that decision for him and he never really had a choice. So why do I now want to become like him?

I guess I started to rethink my opinion of Simon while back in high school. I had the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land during Lent and there’s just something about visiting the places that Jesus walked that makes it so much more real. These events didn’t happen in some universe light years away from ours; it’s not just a nice story in a book. The people in the gospels were actual people like you and me and experienced similar emotions, struggles and joys. They had families, they laughed, and they had real problems. Without a doubt the most moving experience that I had on this trip was walking the Via Delarosa, the very same street that Christ carried his cross some 2000 years ago. We stopped and read meditations along the way of this narrow crowded stone path where at certain points the events of the Stations of the Cross took place. I was asked to read the meditation for the 5th station: Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross, and it got me thinking about myself in Simon’s shoes.

“Simon of Cyrene, called upon to carry the cross, doubtless had no wish to do so. When the condemned man’s shoulders became too weak, he lent him his. He moved along 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, father of Alexander and Rufus. They summoned him, they compelled him.

How long did he go on resenting being forced into this?

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 St. Peter.” –Pope John Paul II

Recently I was thinking about this meditation as I watched the movie The Passion of the Christ. The last few years I’ve made a tradition of watching this film during Holy Week and it always seems to move me. As I watched it once again the other night I found myself tearing up at parts as I contemplated just how much God loves me and how I take that love for granted everyday. Sure I try to love God and my neighbor, but in the end I usually find my universe rotating not around Him but around me. Much like Simon my heart just isn’t in the right place.

Like Simon each one of us is given the opportunity to walk side by side with Jesus. Our Lord’s face can be seen everyday in people we meet and it’s our call whether we’ll embrace them with love. It’s no easy task. As Mel Gibson makes clear in his movie, Simon is just an ordinary man who has a good heart. He’s hesitant to let go of himself and embraces Christ but gradually he does. Each moment we are called to do the same and become a little more like Simon.

walking in the footsteps of Christ's Passion (May 1997)