We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You!
Because by your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!
Veronica doesn't appear in the Gospel accounts, yet according to the "Acta Sanctorum," she was a pious woman of Jerusalem who, moved with pity for Jesus as he carried his cross to Golgotha, gave him her veil that he might wipe his face. Jesus accepted her offering and after using it, handed it back to her with the image of his face miraculously impressed upon it.
It's hard to imagine the courage Veronica showed in stepping up to Jesus to offer him some little comfort when everyone else was driving him like an animal. She's an enigma like Simon. Who was she really? A total stranger, or someone who had helped Jesus before with a little food perhaps during a visit to Jerusalem? Or was she as tradition has suggested the woman Jesus had cured of the hemorage?
Whoever she was, she offered Jesus what comfort she could. The question for us is how are we called to be Veronica today? Is it wiping the tears from someone's eyes, or comforting someone who is anxious or in the hospital, or is it helping wherever suffering exists? Lord, help us to be more like Veronica and extend comfort and compassion to those whom we meet.
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