VATICAN CITY, 2 APR 2010 (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 p.m. the Holy Father travelled to the Colosseum where he led the "Via Crucis" or Way of the Cross. The meditations this year were prepared by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general emeritus of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome.
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 two Haitian faithful, two Iraqis, a woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a woman from Vietnam, two Franciscan friars from the Custody of the Holy Land, two volunteer healthcare workers, a person in a wheelchair, and a family from the diocese of Rome.
At the end of the ceremony, the Holy Father addressed some remarks to those present.
"The texts, the meditations and the prayers of the Way of the Cross have helped us to consider the mystery of the Passion in order to appreciate the great lesson of love which God gave on the Cross, that there might be born in us a renewed desire to change our hearts, living each day that love which is the only force able to change the world".
"Good Friday is the greatest day of hope, come to fruition upon the Cross. ... From the day on which Christ was raised upon it, the Cross, which had seemed to be a sign of desolation, of abandonment, and of failure, has become a new beginning: from the profundity of death is raised the promise of eternal life. The victorious splendour of the dawning day of Easter already shines upon the Cross.
"In the silence of this night", Pope Benedict added, "in the silence which envelopes Holy Saturday, touched by the limitless love of God, we live in the hope of the dawn of the third day, the dawn of the victory of God's love, the luminous daybreak which allows the eyes of our heart to see our life afresh, its difficulties, its suffering.
"Our failures, our disappointments, our bitterness, which seem to signal that all is lost, are instead illumined by hope. The act of love upon the Cross is confirmed by the Father and the dazzling light of the resurrection enfolds and transforms everything: friendship can be born from betrayal, forgiveness from denial, love from hate".
The Holy Father concluded by asking the Lord's help "to carry our cross with love, and to carry our daily crosses in the certainty that they have been enlightened by the dazzling light of Easter".
BXVI-HOLY WEEK/GOOD FRIDAY/... VIS 20100407 (510)
At 9 p.m. the Holy Father travelled to the Colosseum where he led the "Via Crucis" or Way of the Cross. The meditations this year were prepared by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general emeritus of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome.
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 two Haitian faithful, two Iraqis, a woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a woman from Vietnam, two Franciscan friars from the Custody of the Holy Land, two volunteer healthcare workers, a person in a wheelchair, and a family from the diocese of Rome.
At the end of the ceremony, the Holy Father addressed some remarks to those present.
"The texts, the meditations and the prayers of the Way of the Cross have helped us to consider the mystery of the Passion in order to appreciate the great lesson of love which God gave on the Cross, that there might be born in us a renewed desire to change our hearts, living each day that love which is the only force able to change the world".
"Good Friday is the greatest day of hope, come to fruition upon the Cross. ... From the day on which Christ was raised upon it, the Cross, which had seemed to be a sign of desolation, of abandonment, and of failure, has become a new beginning: from the profundity of death is raised the promise of eternal life. The victorious splendour of the dawning day of Easter already shines upon the Cross.
"In the silence of this night", Pope Benedict added, "in the silence which envelopes Holy Saturday, touched by the limitless love of God, we live in the hope of the dawn of the third day, the dawn of the victory of God's love, the luminous daybreak which allows the eyes of our heart to see our life afresh, its difficulties, its suffering.
"Our failures, our disappointments, our bitterness, which seem to signal that all is lost, are instead illumined by hope. The act of love upon the Cross is confirmed by the Father and the dazzling light of the resurrection enfolds and transforms everything: friendship can be born from betrayal, forgiveness from denial, love from hate".
The Holy Father concluded by asking the Lord's help "to carry our cross with love, and to carry our daily crosses in the certainty that they have been enlightened by the dazzling light of Easter".
BXVI-HOLY WEEK/GOOD FRIDAY/... VIS 20100407 (510)
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