"WAY OF THE CROSS" AT COLOSSEUM (Part 2)

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 13, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is the second 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 1 appeared Wednesday.

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

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

A great number of people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said:

"Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!'

Way of the Cross" at Colosseum (Part 2)

Text Prepared by Archbishop Comastri

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 13, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is the second 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 1 appeared Wednesday.

* * *

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

[Continued]

EIGHTH STATION Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

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

From the Gospel according to Luke (23:27-29,31)

A great number of people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!'

For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

MEDITATION

The tears of the mothers of Jerusalem flood with pity the path trod by the Convict, soften the ferocity of an execution and remind us that we are all children: children come forth from a mother's embrace.

But the tears of the mothers of Jerusalem are but a small drop in the river of tears shed by mothers: mothers of the crucified, mothers of murderers, mothers of drug addicts, mothers of terrorists, mothers of rapists, mothers of psychopaths: but mothers all the same!

Yet tears are not enough. Tears must overflow into love that nurtures, strength that gives direction, firmness that corrects, dialogue that builds, a presence that speaks!

Tears must prevent other tears!

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, you know well the tears of every mother, you see in every home the corner of pain, you hear the silent cry of the many mothers hurt by their children: bearing deadly wounds ... yet still alive!

Lord Jesus, dissolve the clots of callousness that prevent love from circulating in the arteries of our families. Make us, once again, conscious of being children, so that we can give our mothers -- on earth and in heaven -- pride in having borne us, and joy in blessing the day of our birth.

Lord Jesus, wipe away the tears of all mothers, so that a smile may return to their children's faces, to the faces of all.

+ 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.

Tui Nati vulnerati, tam dignati pro me pati poenas mecum divide.

--- --- ---

NINTH STATION Jesus falls for the third time

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

From the Book of the Prophet Habakkuk (1:12-13; 2:2-3)

Are you not from of old, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? Your eyes are too pure to behold evil. and you cannot look on wrongdoing; why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?

Write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.

MEDITATION

As Pascal insightfully observed: "Jesus will be in agony until the end of the world; and we cannot sleep during this time."[11]

Where is Jesus in agony in our own time? In the division of our world into belts of prosperity and belts of poverty ... this is Christ's agony today. Our world is made of two rooms: in one room, things go to waste, in the other, people are wasting away; in one room, people die from surfeit, in the other, they die from indigence; in one room, they are concerned about obesity, in the other, they are begging for charity.

Why don't we open a door? Who don't we sit at one table? Why don't we realize that the poor can help the rich? Why? Why? Why are we so blind?

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, those who live to hoard riches are the very ones you have called fools![12]

Yes, those who think they own anything are really fools, since there is but one Owner of the world.

Lord Jesus, the world is yours and yours alone. Yet you have given it to everyone so that the earth can become a home where all find nourishment and shelter.

So hoarding riches is robbery, if their useless accumulation prevents others from living.

Lord Jesus, put an end to the scandal that divides the world into castles and slums. Lord, teach us once more the meaning of brotherhood!

+ All: Pater noster …

Eia, mater, fons amoris, me sentire vim doloris fac ut tecum lugeam.

--- --- ---

TENTH STATION Jesus is stripped of his garments

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

From the Gospel according to John (19:23-24)

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; so they said to one another: "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfill the Scripture: "They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots."

MEDITATION

The soldiers take Jesus' tunic from him with the brutality of thieves; they also try to rob him of his modesty and his dignity.

But Jesus is the modesty, Jesus is the dignity that belongs to man and the human body.

And the scorned body of Christ becomes the indictment of all the scorn ever shown to the human body, which God created as the mirror of the soul and the language to speak of love.

Today bodies are constantly bought and sold on the streets of our cities, on the streets of our televisions, in homes that have become like streets.

When will we realize that we are killing love? When will we realize that, without purity, the body can neither be alive nor life-giving?

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, purity has everywhere fallen victim to a calculated conspiracy of silence: an impure silence! People have even come to believe a complete lie: that purity is somehow the enemy of love.

But the opposite is true, O Lord! Purity is necessary as a condition for love: a love that is true, a love that is faithful.

In any event, Lord, if we cannot be the master of ourselves? how can we give ourselves to others?

Only the pure are capable of love; only the pure can love without cheapening love.

Lord Jesus, by the power of your blood poured out in love, grant us pure hearts, so that our world may see a rebirth of love, that love for which our hearts so deeply yearn.

+ All: Pater noster …

Fac ut ardeat cor meum in amando Christum Deum, ut sibi complaceam.

--- --- ---

ELEVENTH STATION Jesus is nailed to the Cross

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

From the Gospel according to Matthew (27:35-42)

And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read: "This is Jesus the King of the Jews." Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right hand and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying: "You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the Cross." So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him, saying: "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the Cross and we will believe in him."

MEDITATION

The hands that blessed everyone are now nailed to the cross; the feet that walked everywhere, bringing hope and love, are now bound to the stake.

Why, O Lord? Because of love![13] Why your passion? Because of love! Why your cross? Because of love!

Lord, why didn't you come down from the cross, to respond to our taunts? I did not come down from the cross, because then I would have made power the lord of the world, whereas love alone is the power capable of changing the world.

Why, Lord, did you pay this dreadful price? To tell you that God is Love,[14] infinite Love, all-powerful Love. Do you believe me?

PRAYER

Jesus, Crucified Lord, everyone else can deceive us, abandon us, delude us: you alone will never delude us! You let our hands nail you brutally to the cross, as a way of telling us that your love is true, sincere, faithful and irrevocable.

Jesus, Crucified Lord, our eyes look upon your hands pierced with nails, yet still capable of granting true freedom; they look upon your feet, nailed to the cross, yet still capable of walking and making others walk.

Jesus, Crucified Lord, The illusion of a happiness apart from God is dead. Let us return to you, our sole hope and freedom, our sole joy and truth: Jesus, Crucified Lord, be merciful to us sinners!

+ All: Pater noster …

Sancta mater, istud agas, Crucifixi fige plagas cordi meo valide.

--- --- ---

TWELFTH STATION Jesus dies on the Cross

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

From the Gospel according to John (19:25-27)

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother: "Woman, behold your son!" Then he said to the disciples: "Behold your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

From the Gospel according to Matthew (27:45-46,50)

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice: "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?", that is: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

MEDITATION

People foolishly thought: God is dead! But if God is dead, who will still give us life?

If God is dead, what is life itself?

Life is Love!

So the cross is not God's death, but the moment when the fragile shell of the humanity taken up by God is shattered and a flood of love bursts forth[15] to renew all humanity.

From the cross was born the new life of Saul, from the cross was born the conversion of Augustine, from the cross was born the joyful poverty of Francis of Assisi, from the cross was born the radiant goodness of Vincent de Paul; from the cross was born the heroism of Maximilian Kolbe, from the cross was born the amazing charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, from the cross was born the courage of John Paul II, from the cross was born the revolution of love: so the cross is not the death of God, but the birth of his Love in our world.

Blessed be the cross of Christ!

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, in the silence of this evening, your voice is heard: "I thirst! I thirst for your love!"[16]

In the silence of this night, your prayer is heard: "Father, forgive them! Father, forgive them!"[17]

In the silence of history, your cry is heard: "It is finished."[18]

What is finished? "I have given you everything, I have told you everything, I brought you the most beautiful message of all: God is love! God loves you!"

In the silence of the heart, we can feel the caress of your final gift: "Behold, your mother: my mother!"[19]

Thank you Jesus, for giving Mary the mission of reminding us each day that the meaning of everything is to be found in love: the Love of God planted in the world like a cross! Thank you, Jesus!

+ All: Pater noster …

Vidit suum dulcem Natum morientem desolatum, cum emisit spiritum.

--- --- ---

THIRTEENTH STATION Jesus is taken down from the Cross and given to his Mother

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

From the Gospel according to Matthew (27:55,57-58; 17:22-2)

There were also many women there, looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them: "The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." And they were greatly distressed.

MEDITATION

The deed is done: we have killed Jesus![20]

And Christ's wounds continue to sting in Mary's heart, as one sorrow envelops both Mother and Child.

The Pietà! The sorrowing Mother and her Son! The scene cries out to us, it brings distress and pain even to those used to inflicting pain on others.

The Pietà! We almost seem to feel compassion for God and yet -- once again -- it is God who feels compassion for us.

The Pietà! Our pain is no longer hopeless, nor will it ever be hopeless again, for God has come to suffer with us.

And with God, can we ever be hopeless?

PRAYER

O Mary, in your Son you embrace every son and daughter, and share in the anguish of every mother throughout the world.

O Mary, your tears continue to fall in every age; they bathe the faces and mirror the grief of every man and woman.

O Mary, you have known sorrow ... yet you still believe!

You believe that clouds do not darken the sun, you believe that night gives way to dawn.

O Mary, you who sang the Magnificat,[21] lead us in the song that conquers sorrow like the birth pangs that bring forth new life.

O Mary, pray for us! Pray that we too may experience the infectious power of true hope.

+ All: Pater noster …

Fac me vere tecum flere, Crucifixo condolere, donec ego vixero.

--- --- ---

FOURTEENTH STATION Jesus is laid in the tomb

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

From the Gospel according to Matthew (27:59-61)

Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the sepulcher.

From the Book of Psalms (16:9-11)

My heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure. For you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay. You show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

MEDITATION

There are times when life seems like a long and dreary Holy Saturday. Everything seems over, the wicked seem to triumph, and evil appears more powerful than good.[22]

But faith enables us to see afar, it makes us glimpse the break of a new day on the other side of this day. Faith promises us that the final word belongs to God: to God alone!

Faith is truly a little lamp, yet it is the only lamp that can light up the night of the world: and its lowly light blends with the light of a new day: the day of the Risen Christ.

So the story does not end with the tomb, instead it bursts forth from the tomb: just as Jesus promised us,[23] it happened, and it will happen again![24]

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, Good Friday is the day of darkness, the day of blind hatred, the day when the Just One was put to death! But Good Friday is not the final word: the final word is Easter, the triumph of Life, the victory of Good over Evil.

Lord Jesus, Holy Saturday is the day of emptiness, the day of bewilderment and dread, the day when everything seems over!

But Holy Saturday is not the final day, the final day is Easter, the Light that is kindled anew, the Love that conquers all hatred.

Lord Jesus, whenever we experience our own Good Friday, and we feel the anguish of Holy Saturday, give us Mary's unwavering faith, so that we can believe in the reality of Easter; give us her clearsighted gaze so that we can see the brilliant dawn that announces the final day of history: "new heavens and a new earth"[25] already present in you, Jesus, Crucified and Risen. Amen!

+ All: Pater noster …

Quando corpus morietur, fac ut animae donetur paradisi gloria. Amen.

--- --- ---

The Holy Father addresses those present.

At the end of his address, the Holy Father imparts the apostolic blessing:

V. Dominus vobiscum. R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

V. Sit nomen Domini benedictum. R. Ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.

V. Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini. R. Qui fecit caelum et terram.

V. Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus, Pater +, et + Filius, et + Spiritus Sanctus. R. Amen.

--- --- ---

[11] B. Pascal, "Pensèes," 553 (ed. Brunswieg). [12] Luke 12:20. [13] John 13:1. [14] 1 John 4:8,16. [15] John 19:30.

[16] John 19:28. [17] Luke 23:34. [18] John 19:30. [19] John 19:27. [20] Zechariah 12:10.

[21] Luke 1:46-55. [22] Jeremiah 12:1; Habakkuk 1:13. [23] Luke 18:31-33. [24] Romans 8:18-23. [25] Revelation 21:1.

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