We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Reading
A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' At that time, people will say to the mountains, 'Fall upon us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!' for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23: 27-31)
Reflection
Since autism has long been officially defined as a "disorder" or a "syndrome", people may view it as a "disease" that needs a "cure". Accordingly, many people have come forward, offering their sure-fire "cures" for autism – especially to worried parents who see their children seemingly un responsive, poker-faced, or, at the very least, quite socially awkward.
It’s easy to sympathize with those who want to "cure" autism in their loved ones. Those of us who are autistic could point out at least some traits that we would rather not have. It’s important to remember this, however. Although we autistic people are more than our autism, autism is so interwoven in nearly every aspect of our lives that it would be impossible to imagine ourselves without it. Moreover, the proposed "cures" do little more than ease this or that symptom, at best. Many have unpleasant side effects.
Asking for a "cure" may be the wrong question to begin with. What if we asked this instead: as autistic people, what do we need in order that our gifts will not remain safely inside ourselves, but rather, can be shared with the larger society?
I will offer a hypothesis. One of our challenges as autistic people is not a lack of empathy but an excess. We are too sensitive to the presence and the feelings of others. That sensitivity overloads us and makes it very hard for us to respond emotionally. What we need is to encounter an empathy that does not merely equal but even surpasses our own. An empathy that can center and guide our own, teaching us how to love. We find that empathy in Jesus, an empathy on full display in this Station.
Recall that, in the last Station, Simon of Cyrene was made to carry Jesus’ Cross. This was because Jesus had been beaten and whipped so badly that the Roman soldiers feared that He might not make it to Calvary, thus depriving them of the spectacle of seeing Him in pain on the Cross. Nevertheless, even in His great suffering, He reaches out beyond His own pain to the pain of the women of Jerusalem – even suggesting that they were better off weeping for their coming trials rather than for Him! We can turn our hearts over to our most compassionate Lord, who will help us reach out to others appropriately even in our own struggles and pains, discovering in that love for others not the "cure" but the fulfillment of our autistic vocation.
Prayer
Father of mercy,
grant us Your strength and wisdom,
that we may follow You in all things.
May the great compassion of Your Son
enliven and guide our own,
so that we might discover the full meaning
of our autistic vocation
and love as You love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.