Eighth station: Jesus Meets the Women

By Bridgette Powers
Novice, St. Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph

Sacred Heart Chapel in St. Joseph

Jesus, in the eighth station of the cross, you meet women on the road to Calvary. These devoted women have braved the crowd to see you. You take the time to notice they are weeping for your pain. In spite of the fact that you are in pain and carrying a heavy burden in the cross, Jesus, you stop to comfort these women. You tell them not to cry for you, but for ourselves.

Every day each of us is asked to encounter Jesus on our life’s journey as the women do in the eighth station. I am a novice at St. Benedict’s Monastery, which means I am in the beginning of the process of becoming a sister. I see and experience this encounter with Jesus every day in the sisters I live with.

Our prayer and community life invite us to seek Jesus daily. We bring ourselves in prayer before the Jesus who understands our human struggles in the world because of his own experiences of suffering. Bringing struggles to God through prayer acts as a springboard to draw us into a deeper relationship with Jesus. We do not come away from this encounter with Jesus unchanged. This change can begin simply with renewed energy for a tedious task or a warm smile and can slowly but surely extend into every facet of our lives.

Jesus, please give us the grace to encounter you daily in our work and the people we love. Grant us a changed heart through these daily encounters with you. Amen.

Author: The Visitor

The Visitor is the official newpaper for the Diocese of Saint Cloud.

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