Sometimes at school, work or church we are forced to sit next to an outsider – not someone we would choose! We are thinking about ourselves not them. “Do I really want to be seen with them?” Poor Simon – a foreigner, already different in the crowd, and now he is picked on to help a “criminal” carry his cross. He would feel watched and looked at, more concerned for the crowd he would return to, than the plight of Jesus under the cross.
Silence
Prayer. Jesus forgive us for the times we have hurt others by not caring about they feel. Show us true compassion. Teach us how to follow you.