Mood changes as pope, young people reflect on suffering in Way of Cross

cns ^ | August 20, 2011 | Cindy Wooden and Gretchen R. Crowe

[NYer]

Young people carry the World Youth Day cross during the Way of the Cross led by Pope Benedict XVI in Madrid Aug. 19. (CNS/Paul Haring)

By Cindy Wooden and Gretchen R. Crowe
Catholic News Service

MADRID (CNS) -- The mood at World Youth Day changed dramatically late Aug. 19 as Pope Benedict XVI and hundreds of thousands of young people turned their thoughts to suffering.

The vividly painted, graphic statues that illustrated each station of Jesus' passion and death were accompanied by meditations focused on individuals, groups and nations enduring serious suffering today.

Many young people -- even those blocks away, watching on Jumbotrons -- read along in special prayer books included in pilgrim backpacks.

Ryan Titzer, a 17-year-old parishioner of St. Timothy Parish in Chantilly, Va., described the "pasos" as "3-D Stations of the Cross."

"They show such reality in the way they depicted the scenes," he said. "I had to get a picture of every single one to show my parents, just because they were incredible looking."

"It's different then seeing a painting or a picture of him," he added. "You could see the pain on Jesus' face, and it just made it more real."

One of Titzer's fellow pilgrims, Bayleigh Aschenbrenner, 16, said the only thought in her head was, "It's unimaginable that he went through all that for us."

"It's very humbling," she said, and it gave her a greater appreciation for Jesus' passion. "Being a more visual person, it's definitely clicked a whole lot more."

Many of the young people sacrificed their time and comfort by arriving hours early and standing in the hot sun to stake out a place near the papal platform in Plaza de Cibeles or in front of one of the station-statues set up along a main street leading to the plaza.

The meditations included prayers for the defense of human life, for peace in the Holy Land and other areas where there is conflict, for the victims of natural disasters, for the unemployed, for those who suffer racial discrimination or religious persecution, for those with alcohol or drug addictions, and for the victims of sexual abuse.

A cross was carried from one station-statue to another by young people from countries or situations where there is suffering. They included Iraqis, immigrants, recovering drug addicts, unemployed and people from Rwanda and Burundi.

A local woman, tissue in hand, leaned out of her shutter-flanked balcony to watch the progress of the cross.

The "paso" depicting the ninth station, Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments, included a prayer for victims of sexual abuse.

A few days earlier, Jenny McGuire, 18, of the Irish Diocese of Ferns, said years of revelations of clerical abuse of children had caused most Irish Catholics to lose faith in the institution of the church rather than their faith in God.

"It's not that they don't believe in Jesus or that they don't have faith in Jesus," she said, "but it's the institution of the church and the priests that they're losing faith in. It's not that they're completely nonreligious. There still is strong faith in Ireland."

Seamus Sutton of County Wexford, Ireland, agreed, adding that World Youth Day, including the Way of the Cross, was a healing opportunity for pilgrims.

"I see this as a reconciliation with the church and with how these people are serving God and what I'm following," he said.

Lauren O'Reilley, also from County Wexford, said that the abuse allegations have been especially hard on the Irish priests "that are so good."

"People in Ireland are losing their faith, especially young people," she said. "It's nice to see all of us coming together to see that people still have faith."

In his remarks at the end of the service, Pope Benedict acknowledged that everyone knows suffering, but he urged the young people to focus on Christ's suffering out of love for all humanity and to imitate that love by committing themselves to alleviate the suffering of others.

Pope Benedict said meditating on Christ's passion and death should lead Christians to ask, "What can we do for him?"

"Christ's passion urges us to take upon our own shoulders the sufferings of the world, in the certainty that God is not distant or far removed from man and his troubles," because Christ became human himself, enduring suffering and death, the pope told the young people.

The pope prayed that Christ's love would "increase your joy and encourage you to go in search of those less fortunate. You are open to the idea of sharing your lives with others, so be sure not to pass by on the other side" of the road "in the face of human suffering, for it is here that God expects you to give of your very best: your capacity for love and compassion."

"The different forms of suffering that have unfolded before our eyes in the course of this Way of the Cross are the Lord's ways of summoning us to spend our lives, following in his footsteps and becoming signs of his consolation and salvation," the pope said.

The harsh wood of the cross, he said, is a sign of the self-giving love that will give eternal life to all who ask.

"The cross was not a sign of failure, but an expression of self-giving love," the pope said. The cross "teaches us to love what God loves and in the way that he loves. This is the good news that gives hope to the world."

[NYer]

World Youth Day Way of the Cross: discoure of Pope Benedict XVI

- Vatican Radio

On Friday evening Pope Benedict XVI joined hundreds of thousands of people for a Way of the Cross liturgy in Madrid's central Plaza de Cibeles. The moving ceremony, on the second day of the Pope's visit to the Spanish capital, recalled the suffering of other young men and women in countries across the globe.
Read the full text of the Pope's words:
Dear Young People,
We have celebrated this Way of the Cross with fervour and devotion, following Christ along the path of his passion and death. The commentaries of the Little Sisters of the Cross, who serve the poor and most needy, have helped us enter into the mystery of Christ’s glorious Cross, wherein is found God’s true wisdom which judges the world and judges those who consider themselves wise (cf. 1 Cor 1:17-19). We have also been assisted on this journey to Calvary by our contemplation of these wonderful images from the religious patrimony of the Spanish dioceses. In these images, faith and art combine so as to penetrate our heart and summon us to conversion. When faith’s gaze is pure and authentic, beauty places itself at its service and is able to depict the mysteries of our salvation in such a way as to move us profoundly and transform our hearts, as Saint Teresa of Jesus herself experienced while contemplating an image of the wounded Christ (cf. Autobiography, 9:1).
As we were making our way with Jesus towards the place of his sacrifice on Mount Calvary, the words of Saint Paul came to mind: “Christ loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). In the face of such disinterested love, we find ourselves asking, filled with wonder and gratitude: What can we do for him? What response shall we give him? Saint John puts it succinctly: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 Jn 3:16). Christ’s passion urges us to take upon our own shoulders the sufferings of the world, in the certainty that God is not distant or far removed from man and his troubles. On the contrary, he became one of us “in order to suffer with man in an utterly real way — in flesh and blood ... hence in all human suffering we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence con-solatio is present in all suffering, the consolation of God's compassionate love — and so the star of hope rises” (Spe Salvi, 39).
Dear young friends, may Christ’s love for us increase your joy and encourage you to go in search of those less fortunate. You are open to the idea of sharing your lives with others, so be sure not to pass by on the other side in the face of human suffering, for it is here that God expects you to give of your very best: your capacity for love and compassion. The different forms of suffering that have unfolded before our eyes in the course of this Way of the Cross are the Lord’s way of summoning us to spend our lives following in his footsteps and becoming signs of his consolation and salvation. “To suffer with the other and for others; to suffer for the sake of truth and justice; to suffer out of love and in order to become a person who truly loves — these are fundamental elements of humanity, and to abandon them would destroy man himself” (ibid.).
Let us eagerly welcome these teachings and put them into practice. Let us look upon Christ, hanging on the harsh wood of the Cross, and let us ask him to teach us this mysterious wisdom of the Cross, by which man lives. The Cross was not a sign of failure, but an expression of self-giving in love that extends even to the supreme sacrifice of one’s life. The Father wanted to show his love for us through the embrace of his crucified Son: crucified out of love. The Cross, by its shape and its meaning, represents this love of both the Father and the Son for men. Here we recognize the icon of supreme love, which teaches us to love what God loves and in the way that he loves: this is the Good News that gives hope to the world.
Let us turn our gaze now to the Virgin Mary, who was given to us on Calvary to be our Mother, and let us ask her to sustain us with her loving protection along the path of life, particularly when we pass through the night of suffering, so that we may be able to remain steadfast, as she did, at the foot of the Cross.

[zbogwan2]

I love Pope Benedict XVI and I wish he’d lay the law down to all of the hypocrite gays and christians now!?

[Salvation]

**”It’s unimaginable that he went through all that for us.”**

My screen is blurry.

[NYer]

I wish he’d lay the law down to all of the hypocrite gays and christians now!?

Essentially, that is what he is doing. Actions speak louder than words!

[CPO retired]

I allowed my heart to receive and accept the fact that he went through that for us just yesterday. It hit me while listening to gospel bluegrass music by Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys.

This pope, like others, is still walking too softly around something that is killing the Catholic Church financially and spiritually though. The pederast and pedophile priests, and the cardinals and bishops who cover for them need to be held accountable and exposed to the light. I don’t see that happening.

[Salvation]

It’s happening. Many of the new Bishops are aligned with the Pope. It’s all very quiet. In fact someone told me yesterday that in a couple of years everything will cahnge toward the Catholic Church and the world will be shocked.

Then after that, the trials and tribulations of the anti-Christ begin.

But it is happening — most non-Catholics just aren’t aware of it.

[MarkBsnr]

My screen is blurry.

Odd. Mine is, too.

[zbogwan2]

I’m glad he is!

[Biggirl]

Salvation, I sense it is has started to happen already with the protests coming from the anti-Pope crowd and in a special way, to the WYD pilgrims having to have to suffer that abuse. The more the Church begins to change for the better, the more attacks it will recieve, count on it.

[Salvation]

Definitely count on it.