9th Station of the Cross

Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem (Luke 23: 27-31)

Prepare your setting. Take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly.

Begin with the Sign of the Cross. Then: We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Invite Jesus to visit with you. Tell Him of any concerns that are on your mind.

“Read” the image. Look from top to bottom, left and right. Look over it a second or third time. What strikes you? What is happening? What objects and symbols do you notice? Ponder the messages. I’ll share my thoughts [in brackets], but your thoughts are what matter.

[This seems like another quiet depiction of what had to have been a noisy, horrendous scene. The colors look so “polite”. They aren’t bleeding outside their lines. The sky isn’t blotched with black and gray. But there is action. The soldiers on the ramp are talking. I wonder if they’re asking each other how long this is going to take. Or maybe they’re commenting on how many people are following Jesus.

There are also soldiers near Jesus with flags. I guess that’s supposed to show the authority of the soldiers who are there to make sure this crucifixion happens. There are six red flags and a seventh on the ramp, but they don’t strike me as symbolic as much as an artistic choice to place colors there. Maybe the represent the Seven Last Words of Christ, another beautiful devotion.

There is a man in white near Jesus. He has a hat and either a collar or he’s carrying something on his shoulder. His whiteness is pretty bright, and centrally placed in the picture. Truth? Could it be the artist’s way of saying the Holy Spirit (white dove so maybe white coat) is walking with Jesus. That’s comforting. And there’s a woman ahead of Jesus with the same white color head covering. She, the soldiers immediately behind her, the man in white, and a man in red with a green head scarf who is running are all looking ahead. They aren’t even focusing on Jesus. What’s up ahead that has their attention? An end to this earthly commotion with Jesus? A beginning since Jesus will open the doors of heaven to all who believe in Him? I’m more like the person dressed in gray behind Jesus. I try to follow Him but I often look back instead of keeping my eyes on Him and my future with Him.

The man in gray is in front of Mary and the other women disciples. Is he trying to help the women of Jerusalem get to Jesus, or trying to prevent it? And what about that person in front of Jesus, the one in green who is reaching over the bottom of the cross? What is he doing? And why are there two men painted into the bottom of his green gown. Two could represent Old Testament and New Testament, as in Jesus, in the New Testament, is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

The more I look at the image, the more white I see in the arches and the buildings of the town. Most of the window shapes are rectangles or rectangles topped with half-circles, but one is a circle (symbolic of God). Maybe it mens Jesus traveled from white (light, truth, God, goodness) into the darkening colors of Golgotha.

The path to Calvary is by a hillside, a rocky one. One green tree is shown. Maybe this is a reference to what Jesus said to the women: don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves for the day will come when people will say to the mountains ‘fall on me’ and to the hills ‘cover me’ because if all this can happen while the wood is green, imagine what they’ll do when the wood is dry. That’s my memory of the story.

The halos belong to Jesus, of course, and to the many Marys who followed Him. His mother Mary is reaching out to Him. Mary Magdalene was there. There was a Mary of Clopas and a Mary of Salome. Catholic tradition, and indeed one of the Traditional Stations of the Cross, celebrates St. Veronica who is said to be one of the women on the Way. She tried to comfort Jesus by wiping His face and He rewarded her (and us with another miracle) with His image remaining on the cloth. I’m glad I grew up with the tradition of Saint Veronica. It reminds me to comfort others. Not just Veronica helping Jesus, but if it really happened, Jesus reassuring Veronica that He is God, that the crucifixion will be a moment of glory.

My emotions are all over the place with this picture: thankfulness for the Truth and Light and Jesus’ sacrifice; sorrow for everyone’s suffering; hope and encouragement because of the fervor of faith of the disciples.]

Meditate. Talk to God about the image, how you feel and why. Wrestle with Him about your questions until you have nothing else to say.

Pray. Lord Jesus, grant us gentle spirits that we may comfort those who mourn.

Contemplate. Relax. Enjoy God’s presence. Let Him speak through your senses, thoughts, imagination until the timer rings.

Write something to keep in your heart until your next prayer session.

Thank Jesus for visiting with you. End with the Sign of the Cross. Amen.

Thank you for joining us for this meditation. I look forward to praying with you again at the next Station.