GOOD FRIDAY: LORD'S PASSION, WAY OF THE CROSS AT COLOSSEUM

VATICAN CITY, 10 APR 2009 (VIS) - In the Vatican Basilica at 5 p.m. today, Good Friday, the Pope presided at the celebration of the Lord's Passion. Following the reading of the Passion, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa O.F.M. Cap., preacher of the Pontifical Household, pronounced his traditional Good Friday homily. The ceremony continued with the universal prayer, veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion.

  At 9.15 p.m. the Holy Father went to the Colosseum where he led the "Via Crucis" or Way of the Cross. The meditations this year were prepared by Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil S.D.B. of Guwahati, India.

  Benedict XVI oversaw the ceremony from the Palatine Hill while Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, carried the cross over the first and last stations. Over the other stations it was carried by a young disabled person assisted by a doctor from the Sovereign Military Order of Malta; a family from Rome; a young sick person accompanied by a stretcher-bearer and a nun; an Asian girl and two Indian nuns; two young people from Burkina Faso, and two Franciscan friars from the Custody of the Holy Land.

  At the end of the ceremony, the Holy Father addressed some remarks to those present.

  Quoting the words of the centurion as Jesus breathed His last, "truly this man was the Son of God", the Pope indicated that we are reminded of this profession of faith "every time we listen anew to the Passion according to St. Mark. This evening, like the centurion, we pause to gaze on the lifeless face of the Crucified One".

  "This man, seemingly one of us, Who while He was being killed forgave His executioners, is the Son of God Who, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, 'did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant ... He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross'.

  "The anguish of the Passion of the Lord Jesus cannot fail to move to pity even the most hardened hearts, as it constitutes the climax of the revelation of God's love for each of us", the Pope added.

  "Throughout the course of the millennia, a great multitude of men and women have been drawn deeply into this mystery and they have followed Him, making in their turn, like Him and with His help, a gift to others of their own lives. They are the saints and the martyrs, many of whom remain unknown to us. Even in our own time, how many people, in the silence of their daily lives, unite their sufferings with those of the Crucified One and become apostles of a true spiritual and social renewal!"

  Christ's disfigured face "is reflected in that of every person who is humiliated and offended, sick and suffering, alone, abandoned and despised. Pouring out His blood, He has rescued us from the slavery of death, He has broken the solitude of our tears, He has entered into our every grief and our every anxiety".

  In the certainty of the Resurrection "let us continue our journey", the Holy Father concluded. "Let us pray together with Mary, the Sorrowful Virgin, let us pray with all who are sorrowful, and especially with all the suffering people from the earthquake zone in L'Aquila: let us pray that in this dark night, the star of hope will appear also to them, the light of the Risen Lord".
BXVI-HOLY WEEK/GOOD FRIDAY/...                VIS 20090415 (590)