by
Fr. John Keep

8th Station:  Jesus Meets the Weeping Women of Jerusalem

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

Somehow Jesus manages to get up and move forward again, and now He meets some women of Jerusalem, weeping over what they see.  At this Station, we actually hear Him speak:  “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children, for if men use the green wood like this, what will happen when it is dry?”  If the Innocent suffers thus, what will happen to the guilty?  They must weep for their sins and those of the world, and so come back to be with Him Who is innocent.  We see in the words of Jesus that even at this stage in His sufferings, His thoughts are on others.  He has no self pity, but only feels compassion for those who do evil.  He has always had a love for sinners.  He came for their sake, came to set them free from sin.
         
The day of the Judgment is coming, and there is no argument from Scripture to support the view that everyone will be all right then.  There are those to weep for.  There are those of whom it could be said that it would have been better for them if they had never been born.

(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.