ROME, APRIL 5, 2012 - Here is the text of the Good Friday Way of the Cross meditations, written this year by Danilo and Anna Maria Zanzucchi. The married couple, from the Focolare Movement, founded the “New Families” Movement.
INTRODUCTION
Jesus tells us: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross each day and follow me”. This is an invitation addressed to everyone: to those who are married and those who are single, to young people, adults and the elderly, to the rich and poor, and to people of every nationality. It is also meant for every family, for its individual members and for the little community as a whole.
Before entering upon his final sufferings, Jesus, in the Garden of Olives, left alone by his sleeping Apostles and fearful of what awaited him, turned to his Father and asked: “If it is possible, let this chalice pass from me”. Yet he immediately added: “Not my will, but yours be done”.
In that dramatic and solemn moment, a profound lesson is offered to all those who choose to follow him. As with each individual Christian, so each family has its own way of the cross, marked by sickness, death, financial troubles, poverty, betrayal, wrongdoing, clashes with relatives, natural disasters.
Yet each Christian, each family, in walking this path of sorrows, can look resolutely to Jesus, man and God.
Together let us enter once more into Jesus’ final experience on earth, an experience received from the Father’s hands: an experience both sorrowful and sublime, one in which Jesus distilled the most precious lessons of his life and teaching. In this way we can learn to live our own lives fully, on the model of his own.
OPENING PRAYER
The Holy Father:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
R. Amen.
The lector:
Let us pray.
A moment of silence follows
Jesus,
at the hour when we recall your death,
we wish to fix our loving gaze
on the unspeakable sufferings which you endured.
These sufferings were gathered up in your mysterious cry
from the Cross before you drew your last breath:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus, you seem a twilight God:
a Son without a Father,
a Father lacking his Son.
That cry, human and divine,
which pierced the air on Golgotha,
challenges and confounds us even today;
it shows us that an unprecedented event has taken place.
An event which saves us:
from death has come forth life,
from darkness, light,
from complete separation, unity.
Our thirst to be conformed to you
leads us to see you forsaken,
everywhere and in every way,
amid our individual and collective pain,
in your Church’s sufferings and in humanity’s dark nights,
and everywhere and in every way
to bring your life, to spread your light, to beget your unity.
Then as now,
were you not forsaken,
we would have no Easter.
R. Amen.
* * * *
FIRST STATION
Jesus is condemned to death
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to John 18:38b-40
After Pilate had said this, he went out to the Jews again, and told them: “I find no crime in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover; will you have me release for you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again: “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Barabbas was a robber.
Pilate finds no particular crimes to charge Jesus with, so he gives in to the pressure of the accusers and thus the Nazarene is condemned to death.
It seems we can hear you say:
“I have been condemned to death;
so many people who seemed to love and understand me
have listened to lies
and accused me.
They did not understand my words.
They handed me over to judgement and condemnation.
To death by crucifixion, the most ignominious death.”
More than a few of our families suffer because of betrayal by a spouse, the person we hold dearest. Whatever became of the joy of being close, of living in unison? What happened to the sense of being completely one? What became of the words “from this day forward” which were once spoken?
I look to you, Jesus, the victim of betrayal,
and experience with you the moment when the love and friendship
which had grown in our life as a couple fell apart,
and I sense deep in my heart the wounds of trust betrayed,
confidence lost, security gone.
I look to you, Jesus, at this very moment
when I stand judged by someone who has forgotten the bond
that united us in total self-giving.
Only you, Jesus, can understand me, can give me courage,
can speak to me words of truth, even though I struggle to understand them.
You can give me the strength
that enables me not to judge in return,
not to succumb, for love of the little ones
who await me at home,
for I am now their only support.
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.
Stabat Mater dolorosa
iuxta crucem lacrimosa,
dum pendebat Filius.
* * * *
SECOND STATION
Jesus takes up his cross
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to John 19:16-17
Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha.
Pilate hands Jesus over to the chief priests and the guards. The soldiers put a purple robe on him and on his head they set a crown of thorns. They mock him throughout the night; they mistreat him and scourge him. Then, in the morning, they burden him with a heavy beam, the cross on which thieves are nailed, so that all can see what becomes of evildoers. Many of his followers flee.
This event which took place two thousand years ago is repeated in the history of the Church and of mankind. Even today. Once more, Christ’s body, the Church, is struck and wounded.
Seeing you like this, Jesus,
bleeding, alone, forsaken and derided,
we ask ourselves:
“But all those people whom you so deeply loved,
and helped and guided, those men, those women,
are they not us today?
We too have hidden for fear of getting involved,
forgetting that we are your followers”.
But the worst part, Jesus,
is that I too have added to your pain.
We who are spouses and our families
have also added cruelly
to the burden you must bear.
When we failed to love one another,
when we blamed one another,
when we refused to forgive one another,
when we did not begin anew to love one another.
And yet
we continue to yield to our own pride,
we want to be always right, we demean those close to us,
even those who have united their lives to our own.
We no longer remember what you, Jesus, have told us:
“Whatsoever you do to the least of these little ones,
you do also to me”. These were your very words: “to me”.
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.
Cuius animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem
pertransivit gladius.
* * * *
THIRD STATION
Jesus falls for the first time
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who labour, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus falls. His wounds, the burden of the Cross, the steep and uneven road. And the press of the crowd. But it is not only all this that brought him down. Perhaps it is the weight of the tragedy that has appeared in his life. We can no longer see God in Jesus, this man who seems so frail, who stumbles and falls.
Jesus, there, on that road,
amid that shouting and noisy crowd ,
you fall to the ground,
get up, and try to continue the ascent.
In the depth of your heart you know that this suffering has a purpose,
You sense that you have taken up the burden
of our many failings, betrayals and sins.
Jesus, your fall pains us,
for we know that we are its cause,
or perhaps our weakness,
the weakness not only of our bodies, but of our whole being.
We would like never to fall;
yet all it takes is a tiny obstacle,
a temptation or an accident:
we let ourselves go, and we fall.
We have promised to follow Jesus, to respect and to care for those persons with whom he has surrounded us. Yes, we really love them, or at least we think we do. If they were to leave us, we would suffer greatly. But then, in real everyday situations, we fall.
How frequently do we fall in our families!
How many separations, how many betrayals!
And divorces, abortions, desertions!
Jesus, help us to understand the meaning of love,
teach us to ask for forgiveness!
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.
O quam tristis et afflicta
fuit illa benedicta
mater Unigeniti!
* * * *
FOURTH STATION
Jesus meets his mother
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to John 19:25
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
On the way to Calvary, Jesus sees his mother. Their eyes meet. They understand one another. Mary knows who her son is. She knows whence he has come. She knows what his mission is. Mary knows that she is his mother; but she also knows that she is his daughter. She sees him suffer for all men and women, those of the past, present and future. And she too suffers.
Certainly, Jesus,
it pains you to see your mother suffer in this way.
But you must make her a part
of this tremendous divine drama.
For such is God’s plan
for the salvation of the human race.
For every man and woman in this world, but especially for us families, the meeting of Jesus and his mother on the way to Calvary is a powerful and ever timely event. Jesus gave up his mother so that each of us – including the spouses among us – might have a mother who is always there for us. Sometimes, sadly, we forget this. But, when we think about it, we realize that countless times in our lives as families we have turned to her. How close she has been to us in times of trouble! How many times have we entrusted our children to her, how often we have asked her to intervene for their physical health and, even more, for their moral protection!
How often has Mary heard us, and have we felt her near to comfort us with a mother’s love.
Along each family’s way of the cross, Mary is the model of that silence which, even in moments of overwhelming pain, gives birth to new life.
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.
Quæ mærebat et dolebat
pia Mater, dum videbat
Nati poenas incliti.
FIFTH STATION
Jesus is helped to carry his cross by Simon of Cyrene
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to Luke 23:26
As they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.
Perhaps Simon of Cyrene represents all of us, at that moment when we suddenly face a difficulty, a trial, an illness, an unforeseen burden, a heavy cross. Why? Why me? Why now? The Lord calls us to follow him, though we know not where or how.
The best thing to do, Jesus,
is to follow you, to be open to what you ask of us.
Many families can confirm this
by direct experience:
it does nothing for us to rebel, it is best to tell you “yes”,
for you are the Lord of heaven and earth.
But not only because of this
can we, and must we, say “yes” to you.
You love us with an infinite love.
More than a father, or mother, or brothers and sisters,
more than a wife, or husband, or children.
You love us with a far-seeing love,
a love which, above and beyond all things,
even in our moments of unhappiness,
wants us to be safe and happy, in your company, for ever.
Even in families, at the most difficult times when momentous decisions must be made, if peace dwells in our hearts, if we heed and understand what God desires for us, then a light shines upon us, helping us to see matters clearly and to carry our cross.
The Cyrenean also brings to mind the faces of all those people who have been close to us at times when a heavy cross befell us or our family. He calls to mind the many volunteers throughout the world who generously devote themselves to comforting and assisting those suffering and in distress. He teaches us humbly to let ourselves be helped at times of need, and to be Cyreneans to others.
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.
Quis est homo qui non fleret,
Matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?
* * * *
SIXTH STATION
Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the second letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 4:6
God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Veronica was one of the women who had followed Jesus, who understood who he was, who loved him; she suffers to see him suffer. Now, standing nearby, she sees his face, that countenance which had so often touched her soul. She sees it distraught, marred and covered with blood, yet ever meek and humble.
He cannot long endure. She wants to relieve his suffering. She takes a cloth and tries to wipe the blood and sweat from that face.
In our lives we have had occasion at times to wipe the tears and sweat of those who suffer. Perhaps we have assisted a terminal patient in the wards of a hospital, or helped an immigrant or someone looking for work, or listened to someone in prison. And in trying to ease their suffering, we may have wiped their face simply by looking upon them with compassion.
And yet, all too seldom do we remember
that in each of our brothers and sisters in need
you, the Son of God, are hidden.
How different would our lives be
if we would but remember this!
Little by little we would become aware of the dignity
of every man, woman and child living on the earth.
Each person, beautiful or not, gifted or not,
whether newly conceived in a mother’s womb
or advanced in age, represents you, Jesus.
And not only. Each of our brothers and sisters is you.
Looking upon you, utterly abased on Calvary,
we will understand with Veronica
that in every human being we can recognize your face.
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.
Qui non posset contristari,
Christi Matrem contemplari
dolentem cum Filio?
* * * *
SEVENTH STATION
Jesus falls for the second time
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the first letter of Saint Peter 2:24
He bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
For the second time as he makes his way along the narrow path to Calvary, Jesus falls. We can sense his physical weakness after the long night and the torture he had endured. Perhaps it was not just that ordeal, his own exhaustion and the heavy cross on his shoulders that made him fall. An unfathomable burden weighs on Jesus, something personal and profound which makes itself felt more clearly with each step.
We see you as a just another poor man,
one who made a mistake in life and now must pay for it.
You seem to have no physical or moral strength left
to face the new day. And so you fall.
We recognize ourselves in you, Jesus,
even in this further, exhausted fall!
Yet you get up again; you want to carry on.
For us, for all of us,
to give us the courage to get up again.
We are weak indeed,
but your love is greater than our failures;
it is always ready to accept and understand us.
Our sins, which you took upon yourself,
crush you, yet your mercy
is infinitely greater than our misery.
Yes, Jesus, thanks to you we get up again.
We made our mistakes.
We let ourselves be taken in by the temptations of the world
perhaps for nothing more than a glimmer of satisfaction,
at the thought that someone still wants us,
that someone says he or she likes us, even loves us.
At times it is a struggle even to maintain
the commitment to fidelity made in our marriage vows.
We no longer feel the freshness or the enthusiasm we once had.
Everything is repetitious, every act seems a burden,
We just want to escape.
But we try to get up once more, Jesus,
And not to fall into the greatest temptation of all:
that of not believing that your love can accomplish all things.
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.
Pro peccatis suæ gentis
vidit Iesum in tormentis
et flagellis subditum.
* * * *
EIGHTH STATION
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, who weep for him
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to Luke 23:27-28
And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
Among the throng following Jesus there is a group of women from Jerusalem: they know him. Seeing him in this sad state, they join in the crowd and ascend to Calvary. They are weeping.
Jesus sees them and feels their sorrow for him. Even at that tragic moment he wants to leave them a word which communicates more than sorrow alone. He desires, for them as for us, not simply pity but heartfelt conversion, a conversion which acknowledges past failures, seeks forgiveness and begins a new life.
Jesus, how often, for weariness or blindness,
for selfishness or fear
do we close our eyes and refuse to face reality!
Above all we choose not to get involved,
we do not share, deeply and actively,
in the lives and the needs of our brothers and sisters, near and far.
We continue to live comfortable lives,
we deplore evil and evildoers,
yet we do not change our lives
and we do not personally pay the price to change things,
so that evil can be overcome and justice served.
Often situations fail to improve because we have made no effort to change them. We withdraw without having wronged anyone, but also without having done the good that we might have done and ought to have done. Perhaps someone else pays the price for us, for the fact that we were not there.
Jesus, may these words of yours revive us,
and give us a portion of that strength
which impels the witnesses to the Gospel
– often martyrs, fathers or mothers or children –
who by their blood, united to your own,
have opened and continue to open even today
a path to goodness in our world.
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.
Eia, Mater, fons amoris,
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam.
* * * *
NINTH STATION
Jesus falls for the third time
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to Luke 22:28-30a
“You are those who have continued with me in my trials; and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom”.
The ascent is brief, yet his weakness is extreme. Jesus is physically spent, but spiritually too. He senses that he has taken upon himself the hatred of the elders, the priests, the crowd, all of whom seem to want to unleash on him all the repressed anger caused by past and present oppression. It is almost as if they are seeking some sort of vengeance by lording it over Jesus.
And you fall, Jesus, you fall for the third time.
You seem to give up.
But see! With utter weariness you rise again
and take up anew the journey to Golgotha.
So many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world
are enduring tremendous trials because they follow you, Jesus.
They are going up with you to Calvary
and with you they are also falling
beneath the persecutions which for two thousand years
have been inflicted on your Body which is the Church.
We wish, alongside these beloved brothers and sisters of ours, to offer our own lives, our weaknesses, our poverty, our daily sufferings great and small. Often we live lives anesthetized by prosperity, without making a strenuous effort to rise or to help humanity to rise. But we can rise, because Jesus found the strength to stand and take up the journey anew.
Our families are also a part of this threadbare fabric, tied to a life of ease which becomes the goal of life itself. Our children grow up: let us try to train them in sobriety, sacrifice, renunciation. Let us try to give them a fulfilling social life through sports, clubs and recreation, but not in such a way that these activities become simply a way of filling up their days and giving them whatever they want.
And so, Jesus,
we need to listen to your words,
and we ourselves want to bear witness:
“Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers,
blessed are those who suffer for justice’s sake…”
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.
Fac ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum,
ut sibi complaceam.
* * * *
TENTH STATION
Jesus is stripped of his garments
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to John 19:23
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.
Jesus is at the soldiers’ mercy. As is the case with every condemned person, he is stripped to humiliate him, to reduce him to nothing. Indifference, contempt and disregard for the dignity of the human person here are joined to greed, covetousness and private interest: “They took his garments”.
Your robe, Jesus, was seamless.
This shows the care shown for you
by your mother and your followers.
Now you find yourself disrobed, Jesus,
and you experience the distress of those at the mercy
of people lacking respect for the human person.
How many people have suffered and continue to suffer because of this lack of respect for the human person, for their privacy. At times we too may not have shown the respect due to the personal dignity of our neighbours by being possessive of those closest to us, a child or a husband or a wife or a relative, someone we know or a stranger. In the name of our supposed freedom we impinge upon the freedom of others: how casual, how negligent we have been in our way of acting and treating one another!
Jesus, who let himself be exposed in this way to the eyes of the world of his time and to the eyes of mankind in every age, reminds us of the grandeur of the human person and the dignity which God gives to each man and woman; nothing and no one should violate this dignity, for we are made in the image of God. Ours is the task of promoting respect for the human person and for his or her body. In particular, the spouses among us have been given the task of uniting these two fundamental and inseparable realities: personal dignity and complete self-giving.
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.
Sancta Mater, istud agas,
Crucifixi fige plagas
cordi meo valide.
* * * * *
TENTH STATION
Jesus is stripped of his garments
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to John 19:23
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.
Jesus is at the soldiers’ mercy. As is the case with every condemned person, he is stripped to humiliate him, to reduce him to nothing. Indifference, contempt and disregard for the dignity of the human person here are joined to greed, covetousness and private interest: “They took his garments”.
Your robe, Jesus, was seamless.
This shows the care shown for you
by your mother and your followers.
Now you find yourself disrobed, Jesus,
and you experience the distress of those at the mercy
of people lacking respect for the human person.
How many people have suffered and continue to suffer because of this lack of respect for the human person, for their privacy. At times we too may not have shown the respect due to the personal dignity of our neighbours by being possessive of those closest to us, a child or a husband or a wife or a relative, someone we know or a stranger. In the name of our supposed freedom we impinge upon the freedom of others: how casual, how negligent we have been in our way of acting and treating one another!
Jesus, who let himself be exposed in this way to the eyes of the world of his time and to the eyes of mankind in every age, reminds us of the grandeur of the human person and the dignity which God gives to each man and woman; nothing and no one should violate this dignity, for we are made in the image of God. Ours is the task of promoting respect for the human person and for his or her body. In particular, the spouses among us have been given the task of uniting these two fundamental and inseparable realities: personal dignity and complete self-giving.
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.
Sancta Mater, istud agas,
Crucifixi fige plagas
cordi meo valide.
* * * *
TWELFTH STATION
Jesus dies on the cross
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to Matthew 27:45-46
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’, that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’.
Jesus is on the cross. Hours of anguish, terrible hours, hours of inhuman physical suffering. “I thirst,” says Jesus. And they lift to his lips a sponge dipped in gall.
An unexpected cry rises up: “My God, my God, why have you forsakenme?” Is this blasphemy? Is the dying man crying out the words of the psalm? How are we to accept a God who cries out, who groans, who doesn’t know, who doesn’t understand? The Son of God made man, who dies thinking he has been abandoned by his Father?
Jesus, until now you had been one of us,
one with us in all things but sin!
You, the Son of God made man,
You, the Holy One of God,
became completely one with us
willing even to experience our sinful state,
our separation from God, the hell of the godless.
You experienced darkness in order to give us light.
You experienced this separation in order to unite us.
You accepted pain in order to leave us Love.
You became an outcast, forsaken, hanging
between heaven and earth, in order to receive us into God’s life.
A mystery surrounds us,
as we relive each step of your passion.
Jesus, you did not cling to your equality with God
as a jealously guarded treasure,
but made yourself completely poor, in order to make us rich.
“Into your hands I commend my spirit”.
Jesus, how were you able,
in that abyss of desolation,
to entrust yourself to the Father’s love,
surrendering yourself to him, dying in him?
Only by looking to you, only in union with you,
can we face tragedies, innocent suffering,
humiliation, abuse and death.
Jesus experiences his death as a gift for me, for us, for our families, for each person, for every family, for all peoples and for the entire human race. In that act, life is reborn.
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.
Vidit suum dulcem Natum
moriendo desolatum,
dum emisit spiritum.
***
THIRTEENTH STATION
Jesus is taken down from the cross and given to his mother
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to John 19:38
After this Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. So he came and took away his body.
Mary sees her son die, the Son of God and her son too. She knows that he is innocent, but took upon himself the burden of our misery. The mother offers her son, the son offers his mother. To John and to us.
Jesus and Mary: here we see a family that on Calvary suffers as it experiences the ultimate separation. Death parts them, or at least it seems to part them: a mother and son united by an unfathomable bond both human and divine. Out of love they surrender it. Both abandon themselves to the will of God.
Into the chasm opened in Mary’s heart comes another son, one who represents the whole human race. Mary’s love for each of us is the prolongation of her love for Jesus. In Jesus’ disciples she will see his face. And she will live for them, to sustain them, to help them, to encourage them and to help them to acknowledge the love of God, so that they may turn in freedom to the Father.
What do they say to me, to us, to our families, this mother and son on Calvary? Each of us can only halt in amazement before this scene. We know instinctively that this mother and this son are giving an utterly unique gift. In them we find the ability to open our hearts and to expand our horizons to embrace the universe.
There, on Calvary,
at your side, Jesus, who died for us,
our families welcome the gift of God:
the gift of a love
which can open our arms to the infinite.
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.
Fac me tecum pie flere,
Crucifixo condolere,
donec ego vixero.
* * * *
FOURTEENTH STATION
Jesus is placed in the tomb
V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
R. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
From the Gospel according to John 19:41-42
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
A deep silence surrounds Calvary. John, in his Gospel, tells us that at Calvary there was a garden containing an unused tomb. It was there that the disciples of Jesus laid his body.
That Jesus, whom they had only slowly come to recognize as God made man, is there, a corpse. In this unfamiliar solitude they are lost, not knowing what to do or how to act. They can only console, encourage and draw close to one another. Yet precisely there the faith of the disciples begins to deepen, as they remember all the things which Jesus said and did while in their midst, and which they had understood only in part.
There they begin to be Church, as they await the resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit. With them is the mother of Jesus, Mary, whom her son had entrusted to John. They gather together with her and around her. And they wait. They wait for the Lord to appear.
We know that three days later that body rose again. Jesus thus lives for ever and accompanies us, personally, on our earthly pilgrimage, amid joys and tribulations.
Jesus, grant that we may love one another,
and to have you once more in our midst,
each day, as you yourself promised:
“Where two or three are gathered in my name,
I am there, in their midst”.
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.
Quando corpus morietur,
fac ut animæ donetur
Paradisi gloria.
Amen.
ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER
AND APOSTOLIC BLESSING
The Holy Father will address those present.
At the end of his address, His Holiness imparts the Apostolic Blessing:
Dominus vobiscum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.
Sit nomen Domini benedictum.
R. Ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.
Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
R. Qui fecit cælum et terram.
Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus,
Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus.
R. Amen.
CRUX FIDELIS
The schola:
R. Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis,
nulla silva talem profert, fronde, flore, germine!
Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulce pondus sustinet!
1. Pange, lingua, gloriosi prœlium certaminis,
et super crucis tropæo dic triumphum nobilem,
qualiter Redemptor orbis immolatus vicerit. R.
2. De parentis protoplasti fraude factor condolens,
quando pomi noxialis morte morsu corruit,
ipse lignum tunc notavit, damna ligni ut solveret. R.