A Ministry of Presen[ce][ts] – Stations of the Cross for Children

I was blessed to lead the Stations of the Cross for Children this evening at our Church.  I gave a spontaneous homily, so here’s a summary of what I said:

                The Stations of the Cross is an ancient and beautiful tradition in our Church, but it seems a little strange to celebrate Stations of the Cross for Children.  Jesus’ passion and death is a difficult story; it’s sad and even scary, so we have to ask ourselves why we have a children’s version of the Stations of the Cross.  Well, I’ll try to explain with a story from Winnie the Pooh.

                Do you remember when Winnie the Pooh went to visit Rabbit’s “Howse”?  He helped himself to so much of Rabbit’s honey that his belly grew really big – so big that when he tried to leave, he got stuck in the rabbit hole.  Rabbit had a back entrance, so he ran outside to try to pull Pooh Bear out, but that didn’t work.  He ran back inside and tried to push him through, but that didn’t work either.  Winnie the Pooh was stuck.  Rabbit, of course, made the best out of the situation by using Winnie the Pooh’s backside as a decoration for his living room – he drew a smiley face and stuck some antlers on Winnie the Pooh’s bottom and balanced a mantle across his legs where he placed a candelabra and some knick knacks.  As for Winnie the Pooh, he’d just have to wait until he burned off some of that honey to get free. 

                That’s when something very special happened:  Christopher Robin came to read a book to Winnie the Pooh while they waited for his belly to shrink.  When there was nothing else he could do, Christopher Robin spent time with Winnie the Pooh.  That’s one way of looking at the Stations of the Cross.  The most important thing we can do is to spend time with Jesus and with each other.  Walking the Stations with Jesus is spending time with him in his suffering.  It’s our way of letting him know that we're with him, and we care. 

Now, spending time with Jesus and with each other is something that everyone can do.  No matter how old or how young we may be, each one of us can give our time to be with Jesus and with each other.  We call this a “ministry of presence.”  Now the older folks here probably understood what I meant when I said “presence” – staying with someone.  But you may have thought that I meant “presents” like Christmas or birthday presents.  Well, in this case, they’re really the same thing because our presence is the best present we can give to Jesus and to each other, especially when there’s nothing we can do to ease someone’s pain or suffering.

          Thank you for walking the Stations of the Cross with us this evening.  Your presence was the best present of all.