In the fourth station, when Jesus is crowned with a crown of thorns, draped in a purple cloth and mocked with the words, "Hail, King of the Jews!" the paradox of Jesus' kingship is revealed to us "as a love that seeks only the will of his Father and his desire that all should be saved."
In this station she prays, "Lord our God, on this holy day that brings your revelation to fulfillment, we ask you to tear down every idol in us and in our world. You know the sway they have over our minds and our hearts. Tear down in us every deceitful illusion of success and of glory."
When Jesus meets the mourning women of the daughters of Jerusalem, at the seventh station, Pelletier reflects on the gift of tears Jesus bestows upon them, asking them not to weep for him, but for the world.
The tears "fall silently down their cheeks. And undoubtedly, even more often, they fall unseen in the heart, like the tears of blood spoken of by Catherine of Siena," she writes. "Not that women alone should weep…" she emphasizes, though it is their grief that "embraces all those tears shed quietly and without fanfare in a world where there is much to weep for."
The eleventh station is devoted to Jesus and his mother Mary. Throughout her son's life, Pelletier writes, Mary had entrusted each event "to the great patience of her faith" and today, the day of his crucifixion "is the day of fulfilment."
"The sword that pierced her Son's side pierces her own heart. Mary too plunges into that bottomless trust whereby Jesus lives to the full his obedience to the Father. Standing there, she does not desert him. Stabat Mater. In the darkness, but with certainty, she knows that God keeps his promises."
The reflection on the tender faithfulness of women continues in the final station, as Jesus is laid in the tomb and the women prepare to anoint his body the following morning at daybreak, after the Sabbath has ended.
"Grant too that we, who have accompanied you along this path of love to the very end, together with the women of the Gospel, may remain in expectant prayer," Pelletier concludes.
"For we know that our prayers will be answered by the resurrection of Jesus, which your Church now prepares to celebrate in the joy of Easter night."
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.