In his meditations written for the Good Friday of the Cross at the Colosseum – presented this evening, on April 18, by Cardinal Baldo Reina on behalf of Pope Francis – the Holy Father explains that, faced with inhumman economies built on calculation and algorithms, cold logic and implacable interests, the change of course is to turn to the outlets.
By Tiziana Campisi
A path offered to each human being – an inward journey, a calculation of consciousness, on a break on the sufferings of Christ on the way to Calvary. In his meditations via Crucis, Pope Francis shows that the way of the cross is indeed the descent that Jesus has undertaken “towards this world that God loves” (Station II). It is also “an answer, an acceptance of responsibility” by Christ. Whoever, “nailed to the cross”, intercedes, placing himself “between conflicting parts” (Station XI), and transports them to God, for his “cross destroy the walls, cancels debts, cancels judgments, establishes reconciliation”. Jesus, “the real jubilee”, stripped of his clothes and even revealed “”To those who watch him die “, consider them” as loved ones entrusted by the Father “, showing his desire to save” all of us “(Station X).
God’s economy
Pope Francis invites us to free ourselves from our own programs and to understand “the economy of God”, which “does not kill, does not exceed or crash. It is modest, faithful to the earth ” – and to follow the path of Jesus, that of the” Beatitudes “, which” he does not crush, but cultivates, repairs and protects “. (Station III). However, it is “the divine economy” (station VII) – unlike today’s economies “calculation and algorithms, cold logic and implacable interests” – on which Francis lives. For humanity, Christ accepted the cross and his weight speaks of the breath of the mind, “‘which is Lord and gives life ”(Station II). We, on the other hand, “let us fail to breathe out to avoid responsibility”. But, the Pope urges: “It is to stop fleeing and stay in the company of those you have given us, in the situations where you have placed us”;
The prayer of people in movement
In his introduction to the fourteen stations, Francis writes that in the stages of Jesus towards Golgotha ”our exodus to a new land” is reconstructed, because Christ “came to change the world”, and we too must “change the direction, see the goodness of his traces”. Thus, “the stations of the cross are the prayer of people in motion. This disturbs our usual routine. ” It is an expensive way in “this world that calculates everything”, where “for free comes at a dear price”. However, “in the gift”, observes the pope: “Everything flourishes again: a city divided into factions and torn apart by the conflict can evolve towards reconciliation; Arid piety can rediscover the freshness of God’s promises; And a heart of stone can turn into a heart of flesh. “
Human freedom
The death penalty of Jesus causes a reflection on “the dramatic interaction of our individual freedoms” (Station I). The irrevocable confidence with which God places himself “in our hands”, bringing a “holy agitation”, the wonders can spring: “release the accused unjustly, discerning the complexities of the situations, counter the judgments which kill”. However, we remain “prisoners” of the roles to which we hook ourselves, frightened by the disadvantage of a change in the direction of our life. Often we let slide the possibility of the cross pathway. Christ, “silently before us in each sister and brother exposed to a judgment and prejudices”, questions us – but a thousand reasons (“religious arguments, legal baffles” and “the so -called common sense which avoids the involvement in the destinies of others”) lead us on the side of Herod, priests, Pilate and the crowd. However, Jesus does not throw his hands to him; He likes “in silence”. In station XI, launched by nail, he “shows us that in all circumstances, there is a choice to be made” – the “incredible reality of our freedom” – while he witnessed the two criminals, letting his insults pass and welcoming the other plea, even by intercoming for those who crucify it: “Father, forgive the Because they don’t know what they are doing. “
Fall and go up
At the third station, Jesus “fell the first time”, teaching that “the way of the cross is traced near the earth: the powerful withdrawal, sucking in heaven. However, the sky is low, and we can find it even in our falls. ” At his second fall (Station VII), Christ shows us “fall and get up and get up; Fall down and get up ”, the human adventure of sin and conversion. “We hesitate, we move away, get lost”, but we also feel joy – “the joy of the new beginnings, the joy of the Renaissance.” Humans are “handcrafted” – unique mixtures of grace and responsibility. Jesus, “one of us”, has not been afraid to trip. However, we often hide our falls, rejecting the path that Christ has chosen. The economy of God, in which “ninety-nores and the affair is more than one” is inhuman: the world of today is built on such a logic “of calculation and algorithms, cold logic and implacable interests”. The “divine economy”, on the other hand, “is different”. Turning to Christ, who falls and gets up, is “a change of course and a change of rhythm – a conversion that restores joy and brings us back to the house”.
Like the Cyrenians
In Simon de Cyrene (Station V), returning from the fields, “they put the cross on him”, illustrating how we can come across God unexpectedly. Although Simon did not ask for the cross, he carried it. The yoke of Christ is “easy, and his burden is light”, and he likes to involve us in his work which “plows the earth so that it can be sown again”. We need this surprising lightness. Without God, work is vain; “On the way to the cross, the new Jerusalem goes up.”
Women along the Calvary road
Stations IV, VI and VIII highlight women: Mary, Veronica and the girls of Jerusalem. The discipulate of Marie is “not a sacrifice but a continuous discovery”. She, “the first disciple”, shows that “in God, the words are acts, the promises are realities”. Veronica’s veil carries the face of Christ – the proof of “his decision to love us in the last breath, and even beyond”, because “love is as strong as death”. And the girls of Jerusalem, moved to Weep, are asked to cry “for themselves and their children”, for our injured coexistence, our broken world calls “tears that are sincere and not just superficial”
Jesus is one of those who hope
At Station XIII, Joseph d’Arimathea, “a good and just man … waiting with examining the kingdom of God”, takes the body of Jesus. Christ is “in the hands of someone who continues to hope, one of those who refuse to think that injustice still prevails”, granting “great responsibilities”, encouraging us. Finally, at Station XIV, the silence of the Sabbath of the Holy Saturday: “Teach us nothing to do at these times when we are asked to wait. Jesus, “posed in the grave”, shares our human condition, descending into the depths that we fear, teach rest, anticipation and preparation of all creation to the peace of the resurrection.
Conclusion prayer
“” Laudato sì, mi “sign” – “praise to you, my lord”. In Saint François du Cantique d’Assii, our common house is a sister who shouts because of the evil that we inflicted on him.
We have traveled the stations of the Cross. We have turned to love from which nothing can ever separate us. Now, while the king sleeps and that a great silence descends all over the earth, pray, in the words of Saint Francis, for the gift of a sincere conversion:
