Station VIII: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

Luke writes, "Large numbers of people followed him, and women too, who moaned and lamented for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children. For the days will surely come when people will say; 'Happy are those who are barren, the wombs that have never borne, the breasts that have never nursed.' then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; to the hills, 'Cover us!' For if men use the green wood like this, what will happen when it is dry?"(Lk. 23).

We have watered the Way of the Cross with our tears. For whom do we weep? For him, or for ourselves? Jesus is the green wood, the living vine, scorched by his agony. Apart from him, we are dead branches and doomed. Through him, and with him, and in him we have hope.

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