Station 8

(4)The women of Jerusalem, and their children, come out to comfort and thank him.

They had seen his compassion and welcomed his words of healing and freedom. He had broken all kinds of social and religious conventions to connect with them. Now they are here to support him.

He feels their grief. He suffers, knowing he can't remain to help them more in this life. He knows the mystery of facing the separation of death.

I look at their faces. So full of love and gratitude, loss and fear. I contemplate what words might have passed between them.

I remember all his tender, compassionate, merciful love for me. I place myself with these women and children to support him.

This is for me. So, I let this scene stir up deep gratitude.

Lord Jesus, help us walk in your steps.

Meditation:

(2) Here is the call to repentance, true repentance.

Jesus says to the daughters of Jerusalem who are weeping at the sight of him: "Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children."(Lk 23,28)

One cannot merely scrape away at the surface of evil; one has to get down to its roots, its causes, the inner truth of the conscience.

This is the meaning of the Jesus who carries the cross. He must always be for us the nearest onlooker of all, the one who sees all our actions and is aware of all the verdicts passed on them by our consciences.

He even makes us understand that these verdicts have to be carefully thought out, reasonable, objective (for he says "Do not weep"), but at the same time bound up with all that this truth contains; he warns us of this because he is the one who carries the cross.

Lord, let me know how to live and walk in the truth!

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

Lord Jesus crucified, have mercy on us.