The Eleventh Station

Greetings from Haiti. I wrote the following post last night, but for reasons surpassing understanding, was unable to get it on the blog. Here it is, better late than never . . .

Rich and I had the chance to tour Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas today. With driver and bodyguard in tow, Deacon Moynihan brought us on a six hour expedition. What we saw is hard to describe. The poverty is profound and the infrastructure is almost non-existent. It’ll take some time to unpack and I’ll be sure to write (and preach) about it later. But for now, indulge me in a quick description of the most gut-wrenching part of the day.

It was our first stop in Port-au-Prince. We went to see the cathedral, which collapsed in the earthquake. After two and a half years, much of the debris has been cleared out. But it’s easy to imagine what it used to look like. I snapped this picture without realizing that the Stations of the Cross had been spray-painted onto the crumbling columns.

This one marks the Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the Cross. The destruction visited upon this city and these people by the earthquake is a fitting metaphor for this station: unimaginable suffering, the darkness and apparent triumph of death. We know now that Christ would rise to new life, but such a claim would have been a tough sell to those who watched the events of Good Friday unfold. And so it is here. How and when will new life come for these people. It is impossible to say. But Christ is risen from the dead. The impossible has come about. We can only pray that is happens here too.

We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. For by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.