VIA CRUCIS
at the Colosseum
Libretto cover: From Stations of the Cross in bas-relief, by Benedetto Pietrogrande (Milan, 1938-), Chapel of the Focolari movement, Rocca di Papa.
Pope says families in difficulty
can draw strength from the Cross
by Salvatore Izzo
ROME, April 6 (Translated from AGI) - Benedict XVI presided at the annual Good Friday Way of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum Friday night, which was attended by some 20,000 pilgrims and broadcast worldwide on radio and TV.
The meditations and prayers for this year's ritual were written at the Pope's request by an octogenarian couple. Danilo and Anna Maria Zanzucchi, who were collaborators of the late Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolari Movement, and who had founded within that ecclesial entity, the Famiglie Nuove (New Families) movement. Their text focused on problems of the family.
The Poipe who came from a two-hour Commemoration of the Passion liturgy at St. Peter's Basilica which ended two hours earlier, presided the Way of the Cross from a terrace on the Palatine Hill directly facing the Colosseum.
The Cross was successively carried through fourteen stations by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Pope's Vicar General for Rome; to Franciscan brothers from the Franciscan custody of the holy Land; and families from Italy, Ireland, Africa and Latin America; and lastly, handed on to the Holy Father.
At the end of the 14 stations, the Pope delivered a brief reflection on the family.
“In times of trial and tribulation,” said Pope Benedict, “we are not alone; the family is not alone. Jesus is present with his love, he sustains them by his grace and grants the strength needed to carry on, to make sacrifices and to overcome every obstacle.”
Here is the Vatican translation of the Holy Father's remarks and concluding prayer:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Once more in meditation, prayer and song, we have recalled Jesus’s journey along the way of the cross: a journey seemingly hopeless, yet one that changed human life and history, and opened the way to “new heavens and a new earth” (cf. Rev 21:1).
Especially today, Good Friday, the Church commemorates with deep spiritual union the death of the Son of God on the cross; in his cross she sees the tree of life, which blossoms in new hope.
The experience of suffering and of the cross touches all mankind; it touches the family too. How often does the journey become wearisome and difficult! Misunderstandings, conflicts, worry for the future of our children, sickness and problems of every kind. These days too, the situation of many families is made worse by the threat of unemployment and other negative effects of the economic crisis.
The Way of the Cross which we have spiritually retraced this evening invites all of us, and families in particular, to contemplate Christ crucified in order to have the strength to overcome difficulties. The cross of Christ is the supreme sign of God’s love for every man and woman, the superabundant response to every person’s need for love.
At times of trouble, when our families have to face pain and adversity, let us look to Christ’s cross. There we can find the courage and strength to press on; there we can repeat with firm hope the words of Saint Paul: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom 8:35,37).
In times of trial and tribulation, we are not alone; the family is not alone. Jesus is present with his love, he sustains them by his grace and grants the strength needed to carry on, to make sacrifices and to overcome every obstacle. And it is to this love of Christ that we must turn when human turmoil and difficulties threaten the unity of our lives and our families.
The mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection inspires us to go on in hope: times of trouble and testing, when endured with Christ, with faith in him, already contain the light of the resurrection, the new life of a world reborn, the passover of all those who believe in his word.
In that crucified Man who is the Son of God, even death itself takes on new meaning and purpose: it is redeemed and overcome, it becomes a passage to new life. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12:24).
Let us entrust ourselves to the Mother of Christ.
May Mary, who accompanied her Son along his way of sorrows, who stood beneath the cross at the hour of his death, and who inspired the Church at its birth to live in God’s presence, lead our hearts and the hearts of every family through the vast mysterium passionis towards the mysterium paschale, towards that light which breaks forth from Christ’s resurrection and reveals the definitive victory of love, joy and life over evil, suffering and death. Amen.
Way of the Cross for the family
April 6, 2012
Thanks be to God for the Way of the Cross!
Among the different events and celebrations of Holy Week, probably the most touching, the one that most fascinates people’s hearts, is the Way of the Cross. It is not surprising.
Jesus has come to everyone, to men and women of every time, in their stories of suffering, whether it be free of guilt or the result of sin. And suffering is a fundamental, sometimes dominant part, of the experience of life.
Being able to bring it close to, and even to join it to the suffering of Christ, is an immense gift for everyone; being able to place it within a mystery open to hope and resurrection is a divine gift for believers.
This year, the idea of entrusting the meditations of the Pope’s Way of the Cross at the Colosseum to an elderly married couple is a wonderful and inspired one, and a significant step in the preparation for the next World Meeting of Families in Milan at the beginning of June.
The Church is constantly committed to defending the family, at a time when the contemporary mindset tends rather to belittle its value or even ridicule its loyalty and stability.
But we must also help the family by proposing a strong spirituality that can accompany it in times of difficulty, not only in material trouble or illness but also in those difficulties – sometimes profound and painful – between husband and wife, or when there are misunderstandings and rifts between parents and children, or when facing the solitude that comes at the death of a spouse.
Helping those who have had the courage to form a family to continue to always believe in the power of Love: this is the reason for making the Way of the Cross of the family, together with Christ, towards Easter.
The full English text of the meditations and prayers for this year's Colosseum Via Crucis has now been posted on:
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/2012/documents/ns_lit_doc_20120406_via-crucis_en.html
Click on each station image to get the corresponding text.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/04/2012 14:29]