A great number of People followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
All Kneel
Leader: Jesus, after being silent, you speak. You turn the eyes of the women away from your suffering and toward the destructive powers of sin. You warn them not to shed their tears for you but rather for themselves and their children. If you, the innocent one, can suffer so, what will be the fate of the guilty?
People: O Jesus, the wood is now very dry! Set fire to the world so that it might burn with your love. Destroy all hatred, fill us with joy again. Teach us to mourn the way things are; show us the way they could be. We love you, Jesus; weep for us.
