Today, on the first Sunday of Lent, the Way of the Cross prayer was led by the women in our church.
Lord, Jesus Christ, all our prayers and worries during this Way of the Cross are brought to You for all our relatives, friends and just women we know.
As we reflect today on women from the Old and New Testaments, we want to draw closer to the mystery of the vocation of woman and her role in our world, so we ask you, Lord, for the gifts of your Holy Spirit. May He open our hearts to understand what a gift woman is, what vocation You have given her. And just as You, through Your torture, death and resurrection, restored the dignity of every human being, please restore the dignity of all women, grant them, Lord, a deep understanding that they are daughters of the heavenly King. Lift up fallen women who have lost the meaning of life, strengthen the weak and guard the strong and mature, and in all hearts multiply faith, hope and love.
Standing 1 - Jesus is sentenced to death
Pontius Pilate looks at Jesus standing before him and sees only an innocent man whom the chief priests gave away because of jealousy. He does not want to sentence Him, but looks at the political and social arguments, the setting. His wife looks much deeper. She does not ask Jesus to do no harm because she is afraid of the emperor or the rebellion in Judea. She sees in Jesus not just an innocent man, she sees a Righteous One sent by God. She intuitively senses the vital mystery of this Man. She may not understand Jesus' mission, but the whole depth of her soul senses the importance of the moment. Jesus says to Pilate, "For this cause was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, to give witness to the truth." Pilate cannot understand these words. His wife doesn't understand either, but she feels it is true. And she knows that the husband, while gaining politically and socially, may lose spiritually. She knows that her husband's soul is more important than his deeds, even if they touch even such a serious problem as the integrity of the Roman Empire. She fears for him, not for his office.
We ask you, Lord, to teach men and women not to oppose each other, but to unite their abilities to seek the truth about this world, but above all about you, about faith, hope and love. Teach us not to exalt one another, not to prove to one another who is right and who is wrong, but to listen to one another for the sake of peace in our souls and in our world.
Standing 2 - Jesus takes up the cross
Every person carries a cross, because after the sin of the first people, our nature was no longer perfect and suffering began to be present in our lives. But the cross can be carried in different ways. You can be discouraged, you can be angry, hate and think you are right, you can give up and do nothing, decide that this is the way it should be and suffer. One can carry the cross foolishly and one can do it intelligently. You can carry it without God and then it is unbearable, and you can carry it with God, and then the cross can even give meaning and color to life.
Esther, against her will, became the concubine of the king who had taken all her people captive; and in spite of her own anxieties she, in her wisdom, did not rebel, she did everything as a loving wife should do. She took up the cross for her people and bore it with dignity. And the king liked her better than anyone else and made her queen. Because of this she was able to save her people when the king's enemies organized a conspiracy against them. She had no panic, no hysteria, no anger; she did not spare herself. She commanded all the Israelites to pray and fast and did the same herself, entrusting herself completely to God. "O Lord, reveal yourself to us in the time of our affliction, and give me courage, O King of the gods and Lord of all authority; give my mouth a favorable word before the king. Help me who am alone, and have no helper but you Lord." And Esther went to the king, not called, risking her life in this way, and though from fear she could not stand, she spoke all the words in defense of her people; and the king pardoned the Jews and exposed the plot against himself, and Esther became his chief counselor, to the good of all the inhabitants of the Persian empire. A mature woman who knows how to take up the cross can save many souls.
Give, O Lord, to all women a sense of royal dignity, for we are all daughters of the Heavenly King.
Standing 3 - Jesus falls for the first time
Hagar also made the way of the cross, but through her own fault. She was a stubborn, rebellious slave of Sarah, Abraham's wife. She wanted to be dominant, and she and her child were cast out of Abraham's house. And she wandered in the wilderness, lost her strength, lacked water, fell down, and had no strength to rise. And the Lord said to her, "What is the matter with you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. Rise, lift up the child and take him by the hand; for I will produce from him a great nation." And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.
Hagar endured exile, rejection, thirst, hunger, loneliness. She had reached the limits of her strength. God led her on a path of humility so that she could become the mother of a new nation. Dominance is not a woman's calling. To bring harmony and peace is a woman's calling. God often transforms women through suffering and then sends them into seemingly hopeless situations and they change the course of history with a quiet, almost inaudible word.
Lord, give all women wise, prudent humility so that they will know how to recognize the time and the way when action needs to be taken.
Standing 4 - Jesus meets his mother
Grace full, blessed among women, the Lord with Her, and the blessed fruit of Her life. How did She come to this?
God chose Her, gave Her a special calling, and She, like a flower absorbing moisture and sunlight, absorbed God's grace; without question, without doubt; without her own corrections of God's plan, keeping everything in her heart. Everything that God had ever said; everything that had been given to Her to experience or understand. Grain by grain she gathered the treasures of wisdom and forgot nothing. She knitted everything so that a beautiful cloak of faith, hope and love would be made. That is her garment, and that is why when she had to follow Jesus on the way of the cross, she did not despair, did not faint, did not cry out in pain. She knew that the time had come, that this was the hour for which He, Her Son, had come to earth. She was not only at the fourth stand, She went all the way, gathering His blood, in which any sinner can be washed if he comes under the cross. That's why She stood there and you can meet Her there today too. She is waiting there, under the cross, to wash with the blood of Her Son those who will come, who will want to give up sin and accept Her Son, Jesus as Savior, to kiss His cross as a sign of repentance. She is there to bring the person to the very feet of the Son, because She knows that the last steps to conversion are the most difficult, as the most difficult were the last steps of Her Son on Calvary. She knows everything, She has seen everything and that is why She does not leave there until now. She is waiting there for everyone who comes....
Jesus said: "With what measure ye measure, with what measure ye shall be measured." Under the cross we see what measure She measured with, and when we read in the Bible, "A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars," we see what measure God measured Her with.
Standing 5 - Jesus is helped to carry the cross by Simon of Cyrene
No human being on earth is self-sufficient. We all need each other, especially woman and man need each other. "And the Lord God said, It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him a helper suitable for him." Eve is the final chord in the symphony of creation. Eve is set up by God not so much for works as for relationships and so she is the solution to Adam's loneliness. If we translate literally from the original language the words: corresponding helper, we should say: life saver standing by. The Old Testament uses this expression 20 times in reference to God who comes to the rescue in a desperate situation. And only once in relation to man exactly at the creation of woman. So this is the vocation of a woman and the meaning of her life: to be the savior of life standing always next to her, to fulfill such a vocation it is necessary to be always in union with the Source of life and the Almighty Savior of souls.
Let us pray that women will find this meaning in their lives and through a personal relationship with God realize it.
Standing 6 - Jesus is wiped on the face by Veronica
The Bible doesn't say anything about Veronica. We do not know whether it is a legend or an oral tradition, not recorded in the Bible, but not forgotten by people. But we know another thing: the name Veronica comes from the words: vera ikona, i.e. true icon. If a woman realizes her vocation given to her by God: to stand by her side and point out the bright path, she is a true icon reflecting God's Face, God's light, truth and love in this world. She will bring God's beauty into the world, and beauty is a sign that all will be well. Beauty calls, satiates, calms, inspires, allows us to contemplate and touch the mystery. And this knowledge with the heart connects man more deeply with God and with people than knowledge with the mind.
Standing 7 - Jesus falls beneath the cross once again
Jesus, very tired exhausted falls on his way. He is completing His earthly journey. There were many people on His way. People who hated Him, people who were unfriendly, people who were just curious, or people who came only for healing and not for a relationship with Him. But there were friends, there was one home He always wanted to come to - the house in Bethany, the home of His best friend Lazarus and his sisters; the beautiful hostess Martha and the contemplative, soul-restoring Mary. To feed Jesus and His twelve disciples without fuss, and to feed them in such a way that they were always satisfied and loved to come back to this house is a great talent, a great heart and the joy of being a woman who is the keeper of the home.
We ask You, O Lord, to give all women the strength to create in the house such a coziness, to which every heart longs, but above all the heart of the husband and children.
Standing 8 - Jesus meets the weeping women
One day a boy asked his mom, "Mom, why are you crying?" "Because I am a woman," replied the mom. "I don't understand," said the boy. "That you will never understand" said the mom as she hugged her son. Then the boy asked his father, "Daddy, why does mommy sometimes cry for no reason?" "All women cry sometimes for no reason," the father slowly mumbled. Time passed... The boy grew up... He matured... One day, a grown man asked God, "Lord, why do women sometimes cry for no apparent reason? Why?" And the Creator answered... "When I conceived of woman, I wished to make her special... I gave her hands so strong to hold the whole world and so tender to support a baby's head; I gave her a spirit so strong to endure childbirth. I have given her a will so flexible that she goes forward when others fall; and at the same time, she cares for the fallen, the sick, and the weary without complaining. I have given her the strength to support her husband in spite of all his shortcomings. I created her from a man's rib so that she would know how to protect his heart. I gave her the wisdom to realize that a good husband never hurts his wife intentionally, but only occasionally tests her hardness and determination to stand by him without hesitation. I have given her tears so that she can let Me know which gift, of the ones I have given her, she carries within her at this moment. I recognize and understand each of her tears. And each of her tears opens to Me the door to her heart, so that she and I share love.
Standing 9 - Jesus falls once again under the weight of the cross
The place of crucifixion is here, Jesus is exhausted, his eyes can't see anything, his blood is dripping on them, his head is in pain, and Jesus falls, but he falls not only under the burden of pain, but first of all under the burden of our sins, our despair, our unbelief in His help. In our lives we also have what we think are hopeless situations, but God always solves them if we choose to walk with Him to the end. The Bible speaks of the woman Noah, who went with her husband and sons to a foreign country in search of bread. There the sons married foreign women. Then her husband and sons died, and Noemin was left all alone in the foreign country. She decided that she would return home, but it was a long journey, and she was alone, a weak and elderly woman. Her daughters-in-law accompanied her, but she sent them home so that they, as she did not have to live in a foreign country alone and homesick. One of them returned, but the other, Ruth, stayed behind. And Naomi said to Ruth, "Behold thy daughter-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods; return thou also after thy daughter-in-law." But Ruth said: "Do not compel me to leave thee and return from thee; but where thou goest, there I will go; and where thou dwellest, there I will dwell; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; and where thou dieest, there I shall die and be buried."
Let us pray for all elderly women that their old age may be a worthy gathering of the fruits of life and the hope of a happy meeting with God.
Standing 10 - Jesus is stripped naked
Jesus is stripped of his clothes and he remembers all the encounters he had with perverse women. He did not abhor them. He knew that the healthy ones did not need a doctor, and He knew why this had happened to their lives. People judged, but He saw the reason. Here was a woman taken in adultery, who was about to be put to execution, and He... He did not even lift His eyes to avoid embarrassing her, she was already standing in full view of everyone, in the middle of the square. He defended her: "Whoever of you is without sin, let him cast the first stone." And no one did. And here is the second woman who broke into the Pharisee's house where Jesus had been invited to visit. The Pharisee, Simon, began in his thoughts to condemn both the woman and Jesus, who, if a prophet (as Simon thought), must know who, and what kind, was touching Him. Jesus not only spoke his thoughts aloud, but admonished him, setting an example to this, as it seemed to Simon, terribly sinful woman. Jesus said: "do you see this woman? I came into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears, and wiped my feet with the hair of her head; you gave me no kiss, but she has not stopped kissing my feet since I came; you did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with expensive oil. Therefore I tell you, her many sins are forgiven because she has loved much."
Let us pray for women who are in a state of serious sin that they will allow God to enter into their hearts and cleanse them, that they will find the meaning of life anew in God's forgiveness.
Standing 11 - Jesus is being crucified
Jesus fights for the soul of man to the end. He sacrifices himself to the point of death, does not spare himself, does not stop halfway, and instills the same spirit in the heart of the woman who is ready to fight for her home, her family, and her nation to the end, no matter how much sacrifice is required.
Judith was a widow who lived a very godly life. She prayed a lot, fasted and kept all the commandments. One day the elders of the Israelite people wanted to give the cities into the hands of their enemies, for there was a shortage of water. Judith invited them to her house and began to instruct them from the depths of her heart, which had received wisdom in long communion with God: "Hear me, you rulers, not your word, by which today you swore before the people, and said that you would surrender the city to our enemies, if the Lord does not help us on these days. You do not understand the depth of the heart of man, so how do you want to understand the thought of God. If He will not help us on these five days, He has the power to protect us on any days, or to smite us in the face of our enemies. God cannot be told what to do, therefore, as we wait on Him for salvation, let us call upon Him to help us. He will hear our voice if it pleases Him. Let us give thanks to our Lord, who tests us as He did our fathers, but He does not test us to torture our hearts, but to teach those who draw near to Him. Judith brought the thoughts of the elders back to God's way and proposed a very dangerous plan of battle, sacrificing herself for the people. Praying all the time, she went into the camp of the enemy and was won there by her wisdom, courage to trust God and the fact that she was not afraid to risk her life for the lives of many.
Let us pray for victory for all women fighting for the lives or souls of their husbands or children.
Standing 12 - Jesus dies on the cross
Jesus, having loved his own, loved them to the end. Mary Magdalene stands near the cross of the dying Jesus. She used to be possessed, Jesus drove seven evil spirits out of her and after that she never left Him. She followed Him everywhere and not only on the land of Israel, but she made the way of her own rebirth together with Jesus. She returned to life and to God. She did not frighten or run away even during Jesus' trial, during the way of the cross, and during the last three hours of Jesus' life when He suffered nailed to the cross. She didn't run away from the suffering, she didn't close her eyes, she didn't say she couldn't look at such a thing. She endured to the end under the cross and then at the tomb completely forgetting herself. In the way only a loving woman can. And her love called Jesus. After His resurrection, He appeared to her first in a personal encounter and commanded her to tell the frightened apostles that He had risen.
Let us pray that women in love will not confuse forgetting themselves with betraying themselves, losing their dignity and forgetting the values they lived by and which gave meaning to their lives.
Standing 13 - Jesus is taken down from the cross
Mary holds the wounded, bloody body of her Son in her hands and gives him to God. He belongs to his Father. Blessed is every woman who realizes that the child is not her property, that he belongs to God. Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel, prayed as follows: "O Lord, Almighty God, if you look upon my affliction and remember me, and do not forget me, and give me a male child, I will give him to you as a gift all the days of his life.
Let us pray for those women who, through excessive feelings for their children, spoil their character and alienate them from their husbands, so that they may realize their mistake.
Standing 14 - Jesus is placed in the tomb
We ask You, Lord, for all women who have lost their loved ones, help them to come back to real life, for it is not the meaning of life to stand constantly in the cemetery at the grave of a loved one. Grant, O Lord, eternal rest to all our deceased relatives, close friends, and when the time comes, let us all meet in Your Kingdom.
