“A large number of people followed Jesus, among them many women who were mourning and lamenting over him. But he turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep rather for yourselves and for your children.” (Luke 23:27-31)
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you:
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Meditation: Consolation
The sufferings of Christ so touched the hearts of the women of Jerusalem that they shed bitter tears for this condemned man. Yet Christ asked them not to mourn for him, but for themselves and the sad future that lay ahead for their families. Within forty years, the city would be besieged and destroyed by the Romans. Many thousands died or became slaves.
Despite being in great pain, Christ was more concerned with the sufferings of his people than with his own. As Christians, we are called to follow in his footsteps with this. As Scripture says: “Do not turn your back on those who weep, but mourn with those who mourn.” (Sirach 7:34)
The episode was part of Christ’s overall mission to “comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:2). This also included having compassion on the crowds and healing the sick (Matthew 14:14). We also see it in the way he consoled a widow by raising her son from the dead and his tears over the city of Jerusalem (Luke 7:13; 19:41).
Prayer
O Jesus, you are close to the brokenhearted – I place my trust in you. Whenever I am anxious and worried, comfort me and make me glad (Psalm 94:19). Give me the grace to comfort the sorrowful, as you did, even when I am suffering myself.
Sign from the Old Testament
In Jeremiah’s time, the prophet told the women of Jerusalem to mourn and lament over the ruin of their city (Jeremiah 9:17-21).
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Lo & Behold 
i feel the 8th station Luke 23:28 was Jesus last thoughts before his death he was looking into the future
and stopped to speak to the woman about the evils of abortions. “daughters of Jerusalem Do not weep for me but weep for yourselves and your children For indeed the days are comming in which they will say Blessed are the barren wombs that never bore for if they do they do these things in the green wood what will be done in the dry?
(this is a carpenters term for young, fresh,and fertile dry is old and dry.
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Check out the other post on this site on the mourning women (number 66 in the New Testament). I can’t say what was in Jesus’ mind, but the cross-references to Hosea 10 and Luke 19 strongly suggest that it was primarily the death of children as a result of the destruction of Jerusalem.
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