(The eighth in a series of posts praying the Stations of the Cross...begin here and then follow along each day.)
There is dignity that no indignity can destroy manifest in the Face of Jesus as He turns towards the daughters of Jerusalem in recognition of their sympathy. A light suggestive of surprise lingers in His eyes.
Jesus, even in this moment, when these think of You with the ready sympathy of true women, Your thoughts are not of Your sorrows but of the sufferings of others, and more especially the loss of souls immortal. Master, teach me to weigh all things, even as You do, in the scales of salvation. Make me ready, even as You, to purchase at any price my own and my neighbor's eternal well-being.
Blessed Mother, surely your prayer, your example, stirred the quick sympathy of the daughters of Jerusalem. Secure for me, if not tears for the suffering of Jesus, at least repentance for my sins.
(From The Holy Face in the Way of the Cross with etchings by Hippolyte Lazerges and reflections by Father Page, C.S.C. aka Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, sP, the founder of the Handmaids of the Precious Blood, published by the St. Columban's Fathers Foreign Mission Society)
The above picture is the original one used in Fr. Fitzgerald's version of The Holy Face in the Way of the Cross but the Columban Fathers used the picture at the beginning of this post in their version. Considering the words, "A light suggestive of surprise lingers in his eyes", this picture makes more sense, don't you agree?
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