8th Station: Jesus Consoles the Women of Jerusalem
We weep over deaths of the innocent
Meditation
Our country faces a time of trial—the conflict between a culture that affirms, cherishes and celebrates the gift of life, and one that declares entire groups of beings to be outside the boundaries of protection. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate shocks; significantly affecting their ability to care for themselves and even putting them in intensified risks of gender-based violence. To choose life involves rejecting every form of violence—poverty, hunger, interreligious intolerance, armed conflict, sexism, racism…and thoughtless damage to our common home.
We Pray
Creator God, may we resist the throwaway culture of death. Like the women of Jerusalem, may we weep for the children of Sister Mother Earth, who will bear the brunt of global environmental change. Help us to emulate your kindness and prevent the tragic violence that affects so many innocent lives. May our compassion purify our vision and empower us to choose life, for children in our communities and afar, from this generation to the next, and for all God’s creatures. Amen.
♫ HYMN
Were you there when the women wept for Him?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
9th Station: Jesus Falls a Third Time
We need courage to resist despair
Meditation
Under the weight of the cross, as the crowds pressed in and the sun glared down, Jesus falls again. “We fail to see the deepest roots of our present failures, which have to do with the direction, goals, meaning and social implications of technological and economic growth” (LS 109). As we carry our cross of stewardship for the Earth, we feel anguish as exploitation seems so vast, complex, and daunting. The harshest anguish of all is to hear people speak of their sisters and brothers with derogatory slurs, for the Earth is everyone’s common home.
We Pray
Lord, we seek your guidance to enlighten our decisions and ask for courage to boldly acknowledge your more-than-human creation. As a people, help us to embrace the kinship of creation. As Jesus found the strength to rise and fulfill Your will, open our eyes to “see the deepest roots of our present failures.” Give us the resolve to care for Your creation, even when the challenges are daunting, to pick ourselves up and carry on despite our weakness.
♫ HYMN
Were you there when He fell the third time?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
The above is excerpted from a booklet prepared by the Franciscan Friars Conventual JPIC commission and a combined adaptation from a Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC) parish resource (from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis’s 2022 ACCT) and a Jesuit Refugee Service resource (JRS Renew the Earth—Stations 2022).
The Stations will be posted individually over the next weeks of Lent. Check out our Resources page if you would like to view the entire document.
