"Closing Prayer
My Jesus, I have traveled Your Way of the cross. It seems so real and I feel so ashamed. I complain of my sufferings and find obedience to the Father's Will difficult.
My Mind bogged down by the poverty, sickness, starvation, greed and hatred in the world.
There are many innocent people who suffer so unjustly. There are those born with physical and mental defects. Do we understand that You continue to carry Your cross in the minds and bodies of each human being?
Help me to see the Father's Will in every incident of my daily life. This is what You did - you saw the Father's Will in Your persecutors, Your enemies and your pain.
You saw a beauty in the Cross and embraced it as a desired treasure.
My worldly mind is dulled by injustice and suffering and I lose sight of the glory that is to come. Help me to trust the Father and to realize that there is something great behind the most insignificant suffering.
There is Someone lifting my cross to fit my shoulders - there is Divine Wisdom in all the petty annoyances that irk my soul every day.
Teach me the lessons contained in my Cross, the wisdom of its necessity, the beauty of its variety and the fortitude that accompanies even the smallest cross. Mary, My Mother, obtain for me the grace to be Jesus to my neighbor and to see my neighbor in Jesus. Amen."
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OFFICE FOR THE LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
WAY OF THE CROSS
AT THE COLOSSEUM
GOOD FRIDAY 2005
MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS
BY CARDINAL JOSEPH RATZINGER