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EIGHTH STATION: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

Jesus and the Women of Jerusalem,
 Friedrich Overbec, 19th Century
Watercolor on Board
Jesus, as he continues to bear the weight of the Cross, stops to speak to the women of Jerusalem, the ones who so often bear the burdens of wisdom and well-being for their families and communities. 

The status of women around the world is critical to the eradication of poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  Education, civic empowerment, and access to health services for women are important MDG targets that affect not just women themselves, but also their families and communities.  Among the most critical health services for women in the developing world is family planning, which gives women and their families the ability to plan and space births, thereby promoting maternal health, reducing child mortality, and allowing for a family’s economic survival.

International funding for family-planning programs lags severely behind need, however.  In particular, the United States has eliminated or greatly reduced much of its support for these vital programs in recent years.  To learn about and help support a new proposal to put America back on the right track – the “Focus on Family Health Worldwide Act” – visit the Episcopal Public Policy Network at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn/.

Officiant:              We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
People:                  Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Officiant:              There followed after Jesus a great multitude of the people, and among them were 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."  

Officiant:              Those who sowed with tears:
People:                  Will reap with songs of joy.

Officiant:              Let us pray.

Teach your Church, O Lord, to mourn the sins of which it is guilty, and to repent and forsake them; that, by your pardoning grace, the results of our iniquities may not be visited upon our children and our children’s children; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

People:                  Amen.

All:                         Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.

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