Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.

R. Because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

"A large number of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him" (Luke 23:27). These women weep for Jesus — an act of compassion, of solidarity with the condemned, of humanity in the midst of brutality. Jesus turns to them. His last recorded words before reaching Calvary are addressed not to his disciples, not to his executioners, but to these women. He speaks to them with tenderness and urgency: "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children" (Luke 23:28).

What follows is a prophetic lament about the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus speaks in the language of apocalyptic: "For indeed, the days are coming when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed'" (Luke 23:29). He ends with a proverb: "For if these things are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23:31). He is the green wood — innocent and full of life; the dry wood is a city and a generation that has rejected the offer of peace.

In the Scriptural Way, the meeting with the women replaces several of the traditional stations (including the three falls and Veronica) but retains this Gospel passage in full. It is a reminder that the Passion of Jesus takes place within the larger drama of salvation history — that his suffering is not isolated but is connected to the suffering of Israel, of Jerusalem, of humanity. And it is a reminder that Jesus, even in agony, remains the teacher and the prophet, still attending to the condition of those around him.