OFFICE FOR THE LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
STATIONS OF THE CROSS AT THE COLOSSEUM
IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II
GOOD FRIDAY 2002
TEXTS OF THE MEDITATIONS WRITTEN BY:
John M. Thavis (United States), Alexej Bukalov (Russian Federation), Henri Tincq (France), Greg Burke (United States), Angel Gómez Fuentes (Spain), Erich Kusch (Germany),
Hiroshi Miyahira (Japon), Jacek Moskwa (Poland), Marina Ricci (Italy), Aura Miguel (Portugal), Luigi Accattoli (Italy), Sophie de Ravinel (France), Valentina Alazraki (Mexico),
Marie Czernin (Germany)
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INTRODUCTION
Each year the Christian community of Rome, together with great numbers of pilgrims from around the world, gathers with the Successor of Peter at the Colosseum on the evening of Good Friday, the liturgical memorial of the Lord's Passion, for the traditional devotion of the Stations of the Cross.
Millions of the faithful take
part through television in this moment of contemplation and prayer. The City and
the World are in a sense united around the mystery of the passion and death of
the Lord, the re-enactment of which is marked by readings from the Bible,
prayers, meditations and songs. The way of the cross winds from inside the
Colosseum to the slopes of the Palatine.
The 14 stations, as on other occasions in recent years, follow a strictly
biblical outline, based on texts drawn mainly from the Gospel of St Mark.
Each year the Holy Father invites people of various nationalities and different Churches or Ecclesial Communities to compose the meditations of the Way of the Cross. This year's meditations are novel in that they have been composed by a variety of authors: 14 journalists and communicators, lay men and women from different countries, all of whom are accredited to the Press Office of the Holy See and represent well-known press and television networks. While they are in touch with everyday news events, they are also sensitive to the world of the spirit; trained in the clear and concise language of the media, they are used to reporting the news of the day. They have found ways to link the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth to contemporary historical events: the people, situations and places of our world are themselves a daily Via Crucis where Christ continues to live and to suffer in vast numbers of our brothers and sisters - in the powerless and the poor, in the outcast and the sick, in prisoners and victims of persecution, in the homeless and in those without a country. In many of the stations, the meditation links the history of Jesus of Nazareth with the story of those men and women of our own time who are victims of violence, war, persecution and terrorism.
Women journalists have been assigned the meditations on those stations in which women - Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the women disciples who followed the Master to Calvary, the daughters of Jerusalem - are the principal actors and witnesses of various episodes of the Lord's Passion.
In our own day too - and the authors of the 2002 Way of the Cross have stated it well - the face of God shines forth in the face of Christ. In Christ's Passion we read the sufferings of mankind. In the pain-filled faces of the men and women of our time we have a glimpse of the face of Christ, accused, reviled, crucified. Yet his Easter victory, his triumph over evil and death, offers hope to all humanity, the promise and pledge of new life.
OPENING PRAYER
The Holy Father:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
R.Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters: the shadows of evening have fallen, the evening of Good Friday, 2002. Once more the Church of Rome prepares to relive, listening to the Word, the final passage of the life of Christ: from the Garden of Olives to the tomb hewn in the Garden.
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Via Crucis
The path of suffering, which Christ treads in obedience to the saving plan of the Father. His path and ours: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mt 16,24).
Via Crucis
The event which reveals the love of the Trinity: of the Father, who "so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3,16); of the Son, who so loved his friends that he laid down his life for them (cf. Jn 15,13); of the Spirit of peace, mercy and consolation.
Via Crucis
The school of life according to the Gospel, where the disciple, gazing upon the Crucified One, learns how to love God above all things and spend his life for his brothers and sisters; how forgiveness can triumph over injury and evil be requited with good; how the heart can open to a friend and the pain of the afflicted find relief.
Via Crucis
An appeal for reconciliation and peace, so that in Asia, Africa and the Middle East today's bitter conflicts may cease, bloodshed may come to an end, so that, by the power of the Spirit, all hardness of heart may be shattered and "enemies begin to speak to one another, those who were estranged join hands in friendship, and nations seek the ways of peace together" (Roman Liturgy).
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The Holy Father:
Peace to those nearby and those far away! Peace to you, Jerusalem, City beloved of the Lord! Peace to you, Rome, City of many martyrs, wellspring of Christian civilization!
Let us pray.
A brief moment of silence follows.
Holy and merciful Father, grant that we may walk with faith and love along the way of the Cross. As we share in Christ's passion, may we come at last with him to the glory of your Kingdom.
Through Christ our Lord.
R.Amen.
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