VIII. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
As Jesus was led to his execution, women mourned and lamented for him. These women were accustomed to cry for condemned criminals and offer them sedative drinks. They were official mourners, and their mourning was considered a work of mercy. But Jesus says to them: “Do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28) Jesus points to the destruction of Jerusalem and to all the war and violence that will come upon humanity. . . . If we want to mourn for Jesus, we have to mourn for the suffering humanity that Jesus came to heal. If we are truly sad because of the suffering and pain which he suffered, we will include in our sadness all of the men, women, and children who suffer in our present world. If we cry over the death of the innocent Holy One of Nazareth, our tears must be able to reach the millions of innocents who have suffered over the long history of the human race. . . . Our tears can lead us to the heart of Jesus who wept for our world. As we weep with him, we are led to his heart and discover there the most authentic response to our losses.
Excerpt from Henri Nouwen’s Walk with Jesus, Orbis Books. Posted with the kind permission of the publisher.
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June 28th, 2008 @ 4:47 pm
Thank you;
I have been in spirtual contact with Henri Nouwen since that weekend in the spring of 1995 when one of our Social Justice Advocates arranged to have a unknown Priest swing by St. Michsel’s Parish in Olympia for a weekend chat about spirtual strenghts and peace– Henri Nouwen!
At the present time I am working on my requirement, prerequirements, to the Deaconate of the Catholic Church.
Thank you again and I will be looking ahead for more inspirations from the Nouwen Society; Bruce I. Tenney
March 8th, 2008 @ 11:46 pm
I’ve been silent but not absent and your wonderful comments have reached out to me and kept me on this “Walk with Jesus,” thanks!
Last Sunday after church, I ended up spending a good part of the afternoon with a complete stranger who had just recently gotten a divorce.
It’s hard sometimes to recognize when God is using His Spirit in me to let someone who is in need here His voice or vise versa, God speaking to God.
Through fasting this Lent, a little more room has opened up for God and in my weakness, He has reminded me of how dependent I really am.
Jesus falling over and over lets us as followers know that God is with us and that He is undoing the fall of sin and breathing life on us as we continue our journey.
The glory that Jesus brought God is good enough for you and me. “Dying to the flesh” and living in the light of Christ with the spirit that dwells in each of us for the agony that Jesus suffered for us in God’s glory, umgh!
My prayer is that I can become more receptive to the power of the spirit that speaks through and to me each and every day for the victory of our Savior. Hope has me looking for and reaching out for His outstretched hands in the fifth Sunday of Lent…“Where can I go from your spirit?” Ps.139:7
March 5th, 2008 @ 10:56 am
I would have to say a dear friend & her husband who is today undergoing prostate surgery. The hope is to buy them a few years. Both are terrified of the possible side effects of the surgery and that they will find more cancer at that time. They are people of deep faith who have never gone anywhere other than work or when one is in hospital, alone. They have been married for well over 40 years, though she is just 4 years older than myself. They lost a daughter about 4 or 5 years ago and though she had done all to be there for her, she still attempts to blame herself at times.
She and I are currently walking the same journey with different forms of cancer in our husbands. I have walked with her and encouraged her to see what the scriptures are saying since we met in 2003. There are so many suffering people who come to mind, but this one person I can reach and help in my own way. The more I love my Jesus, the more I love all people. God be with each of you.
March 4th, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
My friend is impacting all the women in the jail and she is also impacting me by telling me what it is really like in there. I never knew a person who went to jail before. I thank you Jack Given for leading this Stations of the Cross. It is helping me to face anew the suffering of Jesus, the suffering of others, the suffering of myself. I am thankful for Henri Nouwen’s meditations on all of the people all over the world, we need to look truthfully and honestly on people’s struggles and realize ever more powerfully the reality of the cross and also the powerful witnessing that they bring to us of the Resurrection of Jesus.
March 4th, 2008 @ 7:31 pm
A friend here who tried to make a go of running a convenience store got into some trouble when her employee fire-bombed the store and the landlord prosecuted them. She has been in a minimum security jail since last August. Things are working out for her because she is an immigrant and while in jail has been able to get her high school equivalency degree. But also she has gotten to know many young girls in the jail who are drug addicts or alcoholics and she talks to them and listens to their problems. She says she gets very sad for them and wishes there was more she could do for them. She also has gotten to know homeless people, elderly women who are glad to be in jail and off the street. I think there must be a lot of people in jail whose hearts are not hard but wracked with pain and suffering and desperation and I think a lot of people must be in jail whom their relatives and friends never would think that would happen to them. I think my friend is a woman of mercy, a woman of Jerusalem and pray that she will be able to sustain her faith in God in the midst of all those sad stories and that everyone there will be able to go forward and get out to a more hopeful life.
March 4th, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
3/4/08 VIII – Jesus Meets Women of Jerusalem – Even on the route to the cross, Jesus is concerned about the woes of the women coming to grieve for Him – He’s grieving for them. In the pain and agony of our carrying our cross and dying to self, can we identify with the message of Jesus and be concerned about those about us and their welfare. Who at this station of the cross is a “woman of Jerusalem” in your world today that you would share with us…”pray for the anguish of …..”?