Eighth Station — Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by Your holy Cross You have redeemed the world. The Eighth Station. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem. A group of women were following You, Lord, weeping and wailing. The Gospel of Luke, chapter twenty-three, records what You said to them. Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed. You were prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem in the year seventy. You were also speaking, perhaps, to every age that would face its own crises and its own temptation to despair. Lord, the women wept for You. But You redirected their tears toward themselves and their children. Not because You did not appreciate their compassion. But because You wanted them to see the deeper need. The deepest need is not to fix the political problems of any age. It is conversion of heart. The kingdom does not come by external rearrangements. It comes by Your Spirit's transforming work in souls. Tonight, Lord, when I weep over the headlines, when I lament the state of the world, when I worry about my children growing up in difficult times, redirect my weeping. Let me weep, yes, but also let me work where the work matters most. In my own heart. In my own home. In the immediate circle of people You have placed around me. Save my soul, Lord. Save my children. Save my spouse. Save my parents. Save my friends. Build the kingdom from the inside out, in the lives of the people I actually know. And give me hope. The Jerusalem that wept that day was destroyed. But a new Jerusalem rose, the Church, spread across every continent, sustained by Your Spirit, bringing salvation to every age. You did not abandon them. You will not abandon us either. I think tonight of the women in our world who carry such heavy burdens. The mothers raising children alone. The women in countries where they have few rights. The women carrying the trauma of abuse. The women in our parishes who hold so much together with quiet, unrecognized service. Bless them, Lord. Strengthen them. Heal them. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Have mercy on us, O Lord. Have mercy on us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.