WAY OF THE CROSS COLOSEUM PART 1

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is the first part of the translation of the meditations prepared for Good Friday's Stations of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum.

Benedict XVI will preside over the event. The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff released the translation. Part 2 will appear in the dispatch on Holy Thursday.

Meditations and Prayers Composed by Archbishop Angelo Comastri, Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City, President of the Fabric of St. Peter's

In making the "Way of the Cross," we are struck by the certainty of two things: the destructive power of sin and the healing power of God's Love.

"They went after worthlessness, and became worthless themselves" (2:5); "your wickedness will punish you, and your apostasies will convict you; know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you" (2:19); "your crimes have made all this go wrong, your sins have deprived you of all these favors" (5:25).

Date: 2006-04-12

"Way of the Cross" at Colosseum (Part 1)

Text Prepared by Archbishop Comastri

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is the first part of the translation of the meditations prepared for Good Friday's Stations of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum.

Benedict XVI will preside over the event. The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff released the translation. Part 2 will appear in the dispatch on Holy Thursday.

* * *

Way of the Cross at the Colosseum

Led by Benedict XVI Good Friday 2006

Meditations and Prayers Composed by Archbishop Angelo Comastri, Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City, President of the Fabric of St. Peter's

Presentation

A Few Words Along the Way

In making the "Way of the Cross," we are struck by the certainty of two things: the destructive power of sin and the healing power of God's Love.

The destructive power of sin: The Bible never tires of repeating that evil is evil because it hurts us: Sin is self-punishment; it carries its own retribution. A few texts of Jeremiah clearly make this point: "They went after worthlessness, and became worthless themselves" (2:5); "your wickedness will punish you, and your apostasies will convict you; know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you" (2:19); "your crimes have made all this go wrong, your sins have deprived you of all these favors" (5:25).

Isaiah is equally insistent: "Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: because you reject this word, and trust in oppression and deceit, and rely on them; therefore this iniquity shall become for you like a break in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse; its crash comes suddenly, in an instant; its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found for taking fire from the hearth, or dipping up water out of the cistern" (30:12-14). And, voicing the deepest convictions of God's People, the Prophet cries out: "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away" (64:6).

The Prophets likewise denounce the hardness of heart that leads to appalling blindness and prevents us from perceiving the gravity of sin. Let us listen again to Jeremiah: "For from the least to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely. They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace. They acted shamelessly, they committed abomination, yet they were not ashamed, they did not know how to blush" (6:13-15).

Jesus entered into this history ravaged by sin, and took upon himself the burden and brutality of our sins. When we look upon Jesus, we see clearly the destructive power of sin and the sickness of our human family. Our own sickness! Yours and mine!

Yet -- and this is the second certainty -- Jesus countered our pride with humility; he countered our violence with gentleness; he countered our hatred with the Love that forgives. The Cross is the event which enables God's Love to enter into our history, to draw close to each of us, to become a source of healing and salvation.

Let us never forget: from the beginning of his ministry Jesus had spoken of "his hour" (John 2:4), of the hour "for which he had come" (John 12:27). It was an hour which he joyfully welcomed, when, at the beginning of his Passion, he cried out: "The hour has come!" (John 17:1).

The Church treasures this memory, and in the Creed, after professing that the Son of God "became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made man," she goes on to say: "For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried."

For our sake he was crucified! Jesus, at his death, embraced the tragic experience of death as it had been fashioned by our sins; yet, in his death, Jesus filled death itself with Love, he filled it with the presence of God. By Christ's death, death itself was vanquished, for he filled death with the one power capable of canceling the sin that had spawned it: Jesus filled death with Love!

Through faith and baptism, we have access to the death of Christ, to the mystery of the Love by which Christ himself tasted and conquered death ... and this in turn becomes the first step of our journey back to God, a journey which will end at the moment of our own death, a death experienced in Christ and with Christ: in Love!

As you begin this "Way of the Cross," let Mary take you by the hand. Ask her for just a bit of her humility and docility, so that the Love of Christ Crucified will be able to enter your heart and re-create it after God's own Heart.

God bless you on your way!

+ Angelo Comastri

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Opening Prayer

The Holy Father: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. R. Amen.

Lord Jesus, your Passion is the whole of human history: a history where the good are humiliated, the meek ... assaulted, the honest ... crushed, and the pure of heart roundly mocked.

Who will be the winner? Who will have the last word?

Lord Jesus, we believe that you are the last word: in you the good have already won, in you the meek have already triumphed, in you the honest have received their crown, and the pure of heart shine like stars in the night.

Lord Jesus, tonight we walk once more the way of your cross, knowing that it is also our way. One certainty lights up our path: the way does not end at the cross but continues beyond, to the Kingdom of Life, to a torrent of joy, the joy which no one can ever take from us![1]

Reader:

O Jesus, I stand in sorrow at the foot of your cross: I myself have helped erect it by my sins! Your goodness which offers no resistance, and allows itself to be crucified, is a mystery beyond my grasp; it leaves me profoundly troubled.

Lord, you came into the world for my sake, to seek me out and to lead me the Father's loving embrace:[2] the embrace for which I long!

You are the very Face of beauty and of mercy: that is why you want to save me!

Within me is so much selfishness: come to me with your boundless love!

Within me is pride and malice: come to me with your meekness and humility!

Lord, I am the sinner needing to be saved: I am the prodigal son needing to return! Lord, grant me the gift of tears, that I may discover anew freedom and life, peace with you, and in you, joy.

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FIRST STATION Jesus is condemned to death

V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

From the Gospel according to Matthew (27:22-23,26)

Pilate said to them: "Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?" All of them said: "Let him be crucified!" Then he asked: "What evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more: "Let him be crucified!" So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

MEDITATION

We know this scene of condemnation all too well: we see it played out daily! But one question troubles our hearts: why does God allow himself to be condemned? Why does God, the Almighty, show himself clothed with weakness? Why does God let himself be attacked by pride, insolence and human arrogance?

Why does God remain silent?

God's silence pains us, it is our testing and trial! But it is also what purifies our hasty judgments, and heals our thirst for revenge.

God's silence is the soil in which our pride dies and true faith springs up, a humble faith, a faith which does not challenge God, but surrenders to him with childlike trust.

PRAYER

Lord, how easy it is to condemn! How easy to throw stones: the stones of judgment and slander, the stones of indifference and neglect!

Lord, you chose to stand on the losing side, on the side of the ignominious and the condemned![3]

Help us never to cause pain to our vulnerable brothers and sisters. Help us to take a courageous stand in defense of the weak. Help us to reject the water of Pilate, which does not cleanse our hands but sullies them with innocent blood.

+ All:

Pater noster, qui es in caelis: sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum; fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra. Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie; et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; et ne nos inducas in tentationem; sed libera nos a malo.

Stabat Mater dolorosa, iuxta crucem lacrimosa, dum pendebat Filius.

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SECOND STATION Jesus takes up his Cross

V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

From the Gospel according to Matthew (27:27-31)

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying: "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

MEDITATION

In Christ's passion, hatred was unleashed: our own hatred, and the hatred of all humanity.[4] In Christ's passion, our evil recoiled before goodness, our pride exploded with resentment in the face of humility, our depravity was outraged by God's radiant clarity.

And thus we became ... God's cross!

We, in our silly rebellion, we, with our foolish sins, have made a cross of our own anxiety and our own unhappiness: we devised our own punishment.

But God takes the cross upon his shoulders, our cross, and he confronts us with the power of his love.

God takes the cross! Unfathomable mystery of goodness! Mystery of humility, which shames us at our unbending pride!

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, you entered human history and found it hostile to you,[5] defiant toward God, maddened by the pride which leads us to think that we stand as tall ... as our shadow!

Lord Jesus, you did not attack us, but let yourself be attacked by us, by me, by everyone!

Heal me, Jesus, by your patience, cure me by your humility, cut me down to my rightful size, that of a creature, a tiny creature ... yet the object of your infinite love!

+ All: Pater noster …

Cuius animam gementem, contristatam et dolentem pertransivit gladius.

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THIRD STATION Jesus falls for the first time

V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (53:4-6)

Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

MEDITATION

In our human way of thinking, God is incapable of falling, ... and yet he falls. Why? It cannot be a sign of weakness, but only a sign of love: a message of love for us.

Falling beneath the weight of the cross, Jesus reminds us that sin is a heavy burden, sin lowers us and destroys us, sin punishes us and brings us evil: in a word, sin is evil![6]

Yet God still loves us and desires what is good for us; his love drives him to cry out to the deaf, to us, who are unwilling to hear: "Abandon sin, because it hurts you. It takes away your peace, your joy; it cuts you off from life, and dries up within you the very source of your freedom and dignity."

Abandon it! Abandon it!

PRAYER

Lord, we have lost our sense of sin! Today a slick campaign of propaganda is spreading an inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan, a mindless desire for transgression, a dishonest and frivolous freedom, exalting impulsiveness, immorality and selfishness as if they were new heights of sophistication.

Lord Jesus, open our eyes: let us see the filth around us and recognize it for what it is, so that a single tear of sorrow can restore us to purity of heart and the breadth of true freedom. Open our eyes, Lord, Jesus!

+ All: Pater noster …

O quam tristis et afflicta fuit illa benedicta mater Unigeniti!

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FOURTH STATION Jesus meets his Mother

V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

From the Gospel according to Luke (2:34-35, 51)

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: "Behold, this child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed -- and a sword will pierce through your own soul also. Then he came down with them and went to Nazareth. And his mother kept all these things in her heart.

MEDITATION

Every mother is love made visible, an abode of tender affection and undying fidelity. Because a true mother loves, even when she is not loved in return.

Mary is the Mother! In her, womanhood is unalloyed, and love is not poisoned by the waves of selfishness that constrict and smother human hearts.

Mary is the Mother!

Her heart faithfully accompanies the heart of her Son, shares in his sufferings, carries his cross, and itself feels the pain of every wound inflicted on the body of her Son.

Mary is the Mother! She continues to be a Mother, for us, for ever!

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, we all need a Mother! We need a love that is faithful and true. We need a love that never wavers, a love that is a sure refuge at times of fear, at times of pain and trial.

Lord Jesus, we need women: wives and mothers who can restore to our world the fair face of humanity.

Lord Jesus, we need Mary: the woman, the wife and the mother, who never cheapens or refuses love!

Lord Jesus, we pray to you for all the women of the world!

+ All: Pater noster …

Quae maerebat et dolebat pia mater, cum videbat Nati poenas incliti.

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FIFTH STATION Jesus is helped by Simon the Cyrene to carry his Cross

V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

From the Gospel according to Matthew (27:32; 16:24)

As they went out, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; this man they compelled to carry his cross.

Jesus told his disciples: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

MEDITATION

Simon of Cyrene, you are one of the little ones, the poor, a nameless man from the countryside, someone overlooked by the history books.

And yet you made history!

You wrote one of the most beautiful chapters in the history of mankind: you carried the cross of Another, you lifted the cross, and prevented it from crushing its victim.

You restored dignity to us all, by reminding us that we become truly ourselves only when we stop thinking only about ourselves.[7]

You remind us that Christ is waiting for us in the street, on the landing, in hospital, in prison, in the outskirts of our cities. Christ waits for us![8]

Will we recognize him? Will we help him? Or will we die in our selfishness?

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, love is fading away, and our world is becoming cold, inhospitable, intolerable. Shatter the chains that hold us back from reaching out to others. Help us, through love, to find ourselves.

Lord Jesus, our affluence is making us less human, our entertainment has become a drug, a source of alienation, and our society's incessant, tedious message is an invitation to die of selfishness.

Lord Jesus, rekindle within us the spark of humanity that God placed in our hearts at the dawn of creation. Free us from our decadent narcissism, and we will find new joy in life and burst into joyful song.

+ All: Pater noster …

Quis est homo qui non fleret, matrem Christi si videret in tanto supplicio?

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SIXTH STATION Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum

From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (53:2-3)

He had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces.

From the Book of Psalms (42:2-3)

As the deer longs for flowing streams so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God.

MEDITATION

The face of Jesus is bathed with sweat, streaming with blood, covered with abusive spittle. Who would dare draw near him?

A woman! A woman steps out of the crowd, keeping alight the lamp of our humanity, ... and wipes his Face and finds his Face!

How many people today have no face! How many people are relegated to the margins of life, exiled, forsaken, by an apathy that kills the apathetic.

Only those afire with love are truly alive, those who bend low before Christ who suffers and awaits us in those who are suffering: today!

Today! For tomorrow will be too late![9]

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, a single step and the world could change!

A single step, and peace could return to families, a single step, and the needy would no longer be alone; a single step, and the suffering could feel a hand reaching out to take their hand ... and bring healing to both.

A single step, and the poor could find a place at table, lifting the sadness haunting the tables of the selfish, who find no joy in feasting alone.

Lord Jesus, a single step is all it would take!

Help us to take that step, for our world is slowly depleting all its store of joy. Help us, Lord!

+ All: Pater noster …

Quis non posset contristari piam matrem contemplari dolentem cum Filio?

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SEVENTH STATION Jesus falls for the second time

V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

From the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (12:1)

You are righteous, O Lord, when I complain to you. Yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

From the Book of Psalms (37:1-2,10-11)

Fret not because of the wicked, be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb. Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more, though you look well at his place, he will not be there, but the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

MEDITATION

Our arrogance, our violence, our injustices all press down upon the body of Christ.

They weigh upon him ... and he falls a second time, to show us the unbearable burden of our sins. But what is it that today, in particular, strikes at Christ's holy body?

Surely God is deeply pained by the attack on the family. Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family.

There is a move to reinvent mankind, to modify the very grammar of life as planned and willed by God.[10]

But, to take God's place, without being God, is insane arrogance, a risky and dangerous venture.

May Christ's fall open our eyes to see once more the beautiful face, the true face, the holy face of the family. The face of the family which all of us need.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, the family is one of God's dreams entrusted to humanity; the family is a spark from Heaven shared with all mankind: the family is the cradle where we were born and are constantly reborn in love.

Lord Jesus, enter our homes and lead us in the song of life. Rekindle the lamp of love and make us feel the beauty of being bound to one another in an embrace of life: a life warmed by God's own breath, the breath of the God who is Love.

Lord Jesus, save the family, and save life itself!

Lord Jesus, save my own family, save our families!

+ All: Pater noster …

Pro peccatis suae gentis vidit Iesum in tormentis et flagellis subditum.

[Meditations for the remaining Stations appears Thursday]

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[1] John 16:22: Matthew 5:12. [2] Luke 15:20. [3] Matthew 25:31-46. [4] Luke 22:53. [5] John 1:10-11.

[6] Jeremiah 2:5,19; 5:25. [7] Luke 9:24. [8] Matthew 25:40. [9] Matthew 25:11-13. [10] Genesis 1:27; 2:24.

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