The Ninth Station: Jesus speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem

Location: Beachy Head Road

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.

Genuflect

People: Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

Stand

Reader: A reading from the Gospel according to Luke (23:27–31)
And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Sit/Kneel

Leader:
Citizens of Jerusalem, these devout and strong-minded women had rejected the norms of Jerusalem. Shifting the emphasis of their mourning from Jesus back on to them, he reminds them of the sorrow that is to come for those who reject him. In speaking to them, Jesus foresees the suffering the Romans would bring down on the city — likely these mothers’ sons’ and daughters’ same sentence as Jesus.

Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, your love is a great thing. As we bemoan our suffering help us to think of others and turn our works toward them, ultimately bringing us closer to you. Amen.

All stand

Leader: Lord, have mercy. People: Lord, have mercy.
Leader: Christ, have mercy. People: Christ, have mercy.
Leader: Lord, have mercy. People: Lord, have mercy.

 

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Additional prayers: p17

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