V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
R. Because by Thy holy cross, Thou hast redeemed the world.
It is harder the second time that you fall. The first time it is easier to get up and go on, thinking that you will not fall again. The second time you may not be able to bear the thought of the pain that you know will ensue when you fall again and the more you fall the more likely you will begin to think with trepidation about the likelihood of falling again.
Christ's second fall must have caused Him so much pain, shaking His entire body with excruciating agony, crushing Him to the ground. He must have known that He would fall again in His weakened state. Yet for love of us He got up again and went on.
We must do the same. When we confess our sins, we might like to think that we will not fall again, but we know also that we are weak. Our crosses weigh us down so much that we cannot always stand strong beneath them. No matter how we struggle onward, we fall again. In those falls we can find humiliation, but then also we can find humility. We can separate our image of ourselves from our falls and remember that we are children of God, that we belong to Him and that our sins can never mar His image in us so long as we keep turning back to Him.
My most gentle, Jesus, how many times Thou hast pardoned me, and how many times have I fallen again, and begun again to offend Thee! Oh, by the merits of this new fall, give me the necessary help to persevere in Thy grace until death. Grant that in all temptations which assail me I may always commend myself to Thee. I love Thee, Jesus, my love; I repent of having offended Thee. Never permit me to offend Thee again. Grant that I may love Thee always; and then do with me what Thou wilt. (From the Stations of the Cross according to Saint Alphonsus Liguori.)
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