by
Fr. John Keep

4th.Station:  Jesus Meets His Mother

Verse:  We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You.
Response:  Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.

There is one person who understands and helps Jesus in ways we cannot fathom.  She is certainly there because God wants it so.  And yet would any man not want to spare his own mother such a sight?  But those who play a large part in Our Lord’s work in saving us share in a large way in His Passion, which brings salvation about.  At this Station, we do not know whether to look at the Son or the Mother.  We can look at Jesus through His Mother’s eyes, or we can look at Mary through the eyes of Her Son.  Her distress is so great that we cannot imagine it, but Jesus, in spite of His personal sufferings, is fully conscious of His Mother’s feelings too.  If He feels whatever is done to the least child of His as being done to Himself, He certainly feels whatever happens to Our Lady, the Mother of Sorrows.  As Mary looks at what mankind is doing to her Son, unless she shared something of the depths of the heart of Christ, she would never forgive us for what we have done to Him.  And yet Our Lady, who sees these terrible effects of sin, is still willing to accept the title “Refuge of Sinners.”  We hear no complaint by Jesus and none by Mary.  But the prophets had complained in His name many times before:  “O my people, what have I done to you, that you should do this to me?”

(after a brief pause)

Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.