Station 6 Devotional

VI

Youth and innocence are slain

Their blood, it leaves a stubborn stain

Another wiped the blood that hid your face

I need a cloth to ease my pain

In the sixth station of the cross Veronica wipes the face of Christ. Veronica is not mentioned in the Bible. The tradition may have arisen around the miracle of the unnamed woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’s garment (Luke 8:43–48). She is named in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus as Berenike. The name Veronica is a Latinization of that name. Luke does record that

“A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for

him” (Luke 23:27).

Reflection Question: Have you ever wished that someone would come and wipe all your tears away?

Prayer: Lamb of God who shepherds us and leads us to the springs of living water and wipes away every tear from our eyes, give us a heart that rejoices with those who rejoice and mourns with those who mourn. In the name of Jesus, who washed his disciples dirty feet, drying them with a towel, and a few days later had his bruised and bloody and beaten body shrouded with a linen cloth.