Stations of the Cross Series, Station #10, Wednesday, April 5th by Fr. Ben Daghir & Luke Daghi

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One Thing, Jesus Christ.
Stations of the Cross Series, Station #10, Wednesday, April 5th by Fr. Ben Daghir & Luke Daghir

Editor's Note: Fr. Ben Daghir and Luke Daghir will have 14 articles based upon the stations of the cross. The 14th article will conclude on Easter Sunday.  

Article:
The 10th Station: Jesus’s clothes are taken away.

According to Forbes, Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon) currently have the highest net worths on the planet. Musk sits roughly at 267.3 billion dollars while Bezos is roughly at 189.2 billion dollars. 

It is interesting that a famous person’s net worth is one of the first facts which appear on a Google search. What does this say about our culture? 

It means that people are often searching for this information. It means that our culture is obsessed with wealth and the wealth of others.

The 10th station tells us that Jesus’s clothes are taken away. His wealth was stripped away from Him on the road to Calvary. 

St. Thomas Aquinas reflected on the reality of Christ’s poverty on the road to Calvary. He noted that Jesus had no wealth, no honor, no power, and no pleasure on the Cross. He was stripped of everything that the world promotes as of first importance. Jesus’s “net worth” was reduced to $0.00. 

Aquinas then noted, “Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what he desired.” 

The 10th station demands that we reevaluate what is of highest worth to us. Is it power, wealth, honor, or pleasure? Is it our clothes or our car? Is it our retirement plan or our vacation spot? Is it our net worth?

Or, is it something much more profound than any of these?

Is what is of greatest worth to you what Jesus desired on the Cross? 

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). 

“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you; because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”

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Luke Daghir is a seminarian for the Diocese of Erie from St. Marys, Pa. He currently studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore.