Jesus calls us to follow him on his own path of humiliation. When at certain moments in life we fail to find any way out of our difficulties, when we sink in the thickest darkness, it is the moment of our total humiliation, the hour in which we experience that we are frail and are sinners. It is precisely then, at that moment, that we must not deny our failure but rather open ourselves trustingly to hope in God, as Jesus did.
Dear brothers and sisters, this week it will do us good to take the crucifix in hand and kiss it many, many times and say: Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Lord. So be it.
— from the book The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis by Diane M. Houdek
