(Then) Cardinal Ratzinger's Meditations for the Stations of the Cross

Vatican ^ | Good Friday 2005 | Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)

[Pyro7480]

Excerpts from (then) Cardinal Ratzinger's Meditations and Prayers for the Stations of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum, Good Friday 2005:

The First Station: Jesus is condemned to death:
(Meditation) [J]ustice is trampled underfoot by weakness, cowardice and fear of the diktat of the ruling mindset. The quiet voice of conscience is drowned out by the cries of the crowd. Evil draws its power from indecision and concern for what other people think.

(Prayer) How many times have we ourselves preferred success to the truth, our reputation to justice? Strengthen the quiet voice of our conscience, your own voice, in our lives. Look at me as you looked at Peter after his denial. Let your gaze penetrate our hearts and indicate the direction our lives must take.

The Third Station: Jesus falls for the first time:
(Meditation) Man has fallen, and he continues to fall: often he becomes a caricature of himself, no longer the image of God, but a mockery of the Creator.... The nature of our pride is also revealed: it is that arrogance which makes us want to be liberated from God and left alone to ourselves, the arrogance which makes us think that we do not need his eternal love, but can be the masters of our own lives. In this rebellion against truth, in this attempt to be our own god, creator and judge, we fall headlong and plunge into self-destruction. The humility of Jesus is the surmounting of our pride; by his abasement he lifts us up. Let us allow him to lift us up. Let us strip away our sense of self-sufficiency, our false illusions of independence, and learn from him, the One who humbled himself, to discover our true greatness by bending low before God and before our downtrodden brothers and sisters.

(Prayer) Lord Jesus, the weight of the cross made you fall to the ground. The weight of our sin, the weight of our pride, brought you down. But your fall is not a tragedy, or mere human weakness. You came to us when, in our pride, we were laid low. The arrogance that makes us think that we ourselves can create human beings has turned man into a kind of merchandise, to be bought and sold, or stored to provide parts for experimentation. In doing this, we hope to conquer death by our own efforts, yet in reality we are profoundly debasing human dignity. Lord help us; we have fallen. Help us to abandon our destructive pride and, by learning from your humility, to rise again.

The Seventh Station: Jesus falls for the second time
(Meditation) The tradition that Jesus fell three times beneath the weight of the Cross evokes the fall of Adam – the state of fallen humanity – and the mystery of Jesus’ own sharing in our fall. Throughout history the fall of man constantly takes on new forms. In his First Letter, Saint John speaks of a threefold fall: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. He thus interprets the fall of man and humanity against the backdrop of the vices of his own time, with all its excesses and perversions. But we can also think, in more recent times, of how a Christianity which has grown weary of faith has abandoned the Lord: the great ideologies, and the banal existence of those who, no longer believing in anything, simply drift through life, have built a new and worse paganism, which in its attempt to do away with God once and for all, have ended up doing away with man. And so man lies fallen in the dust. The Lord bears this burden and falls, over and over again, in order to meet us. He gazes on us, he touches our hearts; he falls in order to raise us up.

(Prayer) Lord Jesus Christ, you have borne all our burdens and you continue to carry us. Our weight has made you fall. Lift us up, for by ourselves we cannot rise from the dust. Free us from the bonds of lust. In place of a heart of stone, give us a heart of flesh, a heart capable of seeing. Lay low the power of ideologies, so that all may see that they are a web of lies. Do not let the wall of materialism become unsurmountable. Make us aware of your presence. Keep us sober and vigilant, capable of resisting the forces of evil. Help us to recognise the spiritual and material needs of others, and to give them the help they need. Lift us up, so that we may lift others up. Give us hope at every moment of darkness, so that we may bring your hope to the world.

The Ninth Station: Jesus falls for the third time

(Meditation) What can the third fall of Jesus under the Cross say to us? We have considered the fall of man in general, and the falling of many Christians away from Christ and into a godless secularism. Should we not also think of how much Christ suffers in his own Church? How often is the holy sacrament of his Presence abused, how often must he enter empty and evil hearts! How often do we celebrate only ourselves, without even realizing that he is there! How often is his Word twisted and misused! What little faith is present behind so many theories, so many empty words! How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him! How much pride, how much self-complacency! What little respect we pay to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where he waits for us, ready to raise us up whenever we fall! All this is present in his Passion. His betrayal by his disciples, their unworthy reception of his Body and Blood, is certainly the greatest suffering endured by the Redeemer; it pierces his heart. We can only call to him from the depths of our hearts: Kyrie eleison – Lord, save us (cf. Mt 8: 25).

(Prayer) Lord, your Church often seems like a boat about to sink, a boat taking in water on every side. In your field we see more weeds than wheat. The soiled garments and face of your Church throw us into confusion. Yet it is we ourselves who have soiled them! It is we who betray you time and time again, after all our lofty words and grand gestures. Have mercy on your Church; within her too, Adam continues to fall. When we fall, we drag you down to earth, and Satan laughs, for he hopes that you will not be able to rise from that fall; he hopes that being dragged down in the fall of your Church, you will remain prostrate and overpowered. But you will rise again. You stood up, you arose and you can also raise us up. Save and sanctify your Church. Save and sanctify us all.

[Pyro7480]

You can read the rest of his meditation at the link above.

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping!

[St. Johann Tetzel]

Evil draws its power from indecision and concern for what other people think.

So true, especially on threads on this Forum where courage dictates a strong stance, as in the Terri case, Lawrence Vs Texas, contraception, etc.

[ELS]

The beauty of truth. I believe these public appearances by Cardinal Ratzinger near the end of JPII's life and after his death were God's way of giving us a preview of Benedict XVI.

[Salvation]

Wonderful find! Thank you!

[Salvation]

Way of the Cross at the Coliseum -- Good Friday, 2005

Click on each picture and it will take you to the reflection.

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

 

	FIRST STATION    Jesus is condemned to death
	SECOND STATION     Jesus takes up his Cross
	THIRD STATION Jesus falls for the first time
	FOURTH STATION Jesus meets his Mother
	FIFTH STATION The Cyrenian helps Jesus carry the Cross
	SIXTH STATION Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
	SEVENTH STATION Jesus falls for the second time
	EIGHTH STATION Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem who weep for him
	NINTH STATION Jesus falls for the third time
	TENTH STATION Jesus is stripped of his garments
	ELEVENTH STATION Jesus is nailed to the Cross
	TWELFTH STATION Jesus dies on the Cross
	THIRTEENTH STATION Jesus is taken down from the Cross and given to his Mother
	FOURTEENTH STATION Jesus is laid in the tomb

[NYer]

Awesome!

Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[ex 98C MI Dude]

The mediation on the first Station is especially timely, and current (as if it could ever be not current). Justice has been trampled underfoot, drowned out by the cries of the masses, saying, 'but it is the LAW!'

There is much work to be done...

[Lady In Blue]

Bumping for a later read. Thanks.

[Dominick]

I need to print this out in legible form!

[Pyro7480]

Try the Vatican link.

[Dominick]

I mean sutible for using as a booklet, for personal use

[Coleus]

9th-station, cleaning-house ping

[NYer]

9th-station, cleaning-house ping

Thank you Pyro, for printing this reflection on the Stations of the Cross. Who can ever forget Cardinal Ratzinger's reflection at the 9th Station? The media picked that one up and ran it on the nightly news. Now, as then, this great theologian is a tremendous gift in our lives. He fears no one! Thank you, Holy Spirit, for Pope Benedict XVI.