Ninth Station: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

R. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

V. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Reader: A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, 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.’ At that time, people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?”

Luke 23: 27-31

Prayer

You loved the women of Jerusalem, Lord, as you loved their children. Yet you warned them of the dire evil which threatened to destroy their lives and their very souls. Open the ears of all women to your plea for life, O Lord. Grant them the grace to turn away from the sin of abortion and to walk with you this way of the cross. For you are Lord, forever and ever. Amen.