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  We adore you, Oh Christ, and we praise You,
   because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the World.
  Meditation
  The eighth station helps us recall the interaction that Jesus has with the women of Jerusalem. As he is carrying the weight of the increasingly heavy cross on his back, he doesn’t hesitate to comfort the women weeping. For Jesus, in his agony, he looks upon the faces of those suffering and in pain with sincere compassion and empathy. When Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, he was weeping – weeping for what they have encountered and will encounter. How often do we interact with others who are hurting?
  We may often complain about what we have lost, what troubles us, and what annoys us. As parishioners here at St. Leonard Parish, with a Franciscan presence, we are encouraged to love the less fortunate, the stricken, and the lost despite these things. Jesus’ ability to comfort in his difficult journey towards Golgotha, the place he was to be crucified, reminds us of our mission as Christians. We are called to genuinely love and to give of ourselves unconditionally and without reservations. Only when we recognize what hurts us and drains us, but not allowing it to control our lives, can we truly grow together as a community.
  We are invited to live each day transformed by the encounter. We are transformed because we have encountered Christ and Christ is in us. Just as Jesus did with the women, he is doing the same with us in our weeping, staring into the depths of our souls and seeing us, his precious child, and calling us to comfort those weeping – to be Christ-like.
  So, I end with the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi.
  Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
  O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
  Journal Questions:

  1. Why am I weeping? What have I lost and am mourning that is holding me back from loving more deeply and more genuinely?
      
  2. Where in the world, within my families, within my communities, and within myself, that I need God to transform? What relationships do I need God to help me mend?

  Meditation offered by Theresa Nguyen: Theresa is currently working as an Assistant in the Saint Leonard’s office.  Formerly a high school teacher of Theology and a missionary overseas and in the States, she loves to share her faith with young people.
  
  About the artist: Adam Moniz is a Catholic Illustrator and Fine Artist who draws his creative inspiration from the beauty of our Lord. He is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Sacred Art at Pontifex University. Follow him at: www.atmonizarts.com or on Instagram @atm_adamtmoniz.