Christ Speaks

Can you be brave enough,
my other self, to wipe my bloody face?

Where is my face, you ask?

At home whenever eyes fill up with tears,
at work when tensions rise,
on playgrounds,
in the slums,
the courts, the hospitals, the jails --
wherever suffering exists --
my face is there.
And there I look for you
to wipe away my blood and tears.

The Sixth Station
Veronica Helps Jesus

I Reply

Lord, what you ask is hard.
It calls for courage and self-sacrifice,
and I am weak.
Please, give me strength.
Don't let me run away because of fear.

Lord, live in me
and act in me
and love in me.
And not in me alone -- in all of us --
so that we may reveal
no more your bloody but your glorious
face on earth.