A great number of the 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 for 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?" (Luke 23:27-31)
"If they do this when the wood is green, what more will happen when it is dry?" asks Jesus. What
more indeed? For if they can bring Jesus along the Way of the Cross to his death as a common
criminal, and that in the city which they felt God had always loved, what hope is there for
Jerusalem. For the day did indeed come when the daughters of Jerusalem had to weep for
themselves, when the Romans sacked the City of God and the Temple once again lay in ruins,
this time for ever. And even with Jerusalem rebuilt, and even if the Jewish people once again
have a home there, do we still not see times when the daughters of Jerusalem must weep again
and again?
