THE SIXTH STATION: VERONICA WIPES THE FACE OF JESUS

As tormentors and mockers surround Jesus, Veronica steps forward with compassion and courage. She sees His agony and responds. She wipes the sweat and the blood from His eyes. What she does can seem so small: she cannot stop the bleeding or the pain. The truth is that she doesn’t need to. She just needs to love, and she does.

When we look at the pain around us, it is so easy to think that there is nothing we can do to fix it. We’re often right. Our world is plagued by war, natural disaster, illness, broken families, and so much more. The suffering in the world is not something that is solved by one person, but we should not let that fact keep us from doing the seemingly small things that we can do. We, too, can be Veronica. In fact, we must be like Veronica.

“Whatsoever you do for the least of these, you do for Me.” Matthew 25:40

How many others stood along that road and saw His suffering, yet did nothing? How often do we stand by because we do not know what to do or because we think what we can offer is not enough?

Lord, open our eyes not only to the suffering around us, but to the ways we can bring comfort to You in those we meet.