By Carol Glatz, OSV.
The current "builders of Babel" are building a hell on earth, rejecting all those they consider "losers," Pope Francis wrote in the Way of the Cross meditations.
"Your way, Jesus, is the way of the Beatitudes. It does not crush, but cultivates, repairs and protects," the Pope wrote during the evening ceremony on April 18 at the Roman Colosseum.
"The Babel builders of today tell us that there is no room for losers, and that those who fall by the wayside are losers. Theirs is the work of hell," he wrote. "God's economy, on the other hand, does not kill, discard, or crush. It is humble, faithful to the earth."
Each year, the Pope usually chooses a different person or group of people to write the series of prayers and reflections that are read aloud for each of the 14 stations, which commemorate Christ's condemnation, his carrying of the cross to Golgotha, his crucifixion and his burial. However, the pope himself wrote the commentaries and prayers for the Holy Year This year, just as he did for last year's Year of Prayer.
The Vicar of the Pope in the Diocese of Rome presided.
For the third consecutive year, Pope Francis was scheduled to follow the nightly Stations of the Cross from his residence in the Vatican for health reasons, while 25,000 people were expected to gather outside the ancient amphitheater.
Pope Cardinal Baldassare Reinathe papal vicar of Rome, was appointed to stand in for the pope, presiding over the Good Friday ceremony and offering the final blessing at the end. Representatives of different groups, including migrants, youth, people with disabilities, volunteers, charity workers, educators and members of the "Ordo Viduarum," a group of widows serving the Church, would take turns carrying a bare wooden cross.
A text with a social focus
The Pope's remarks and prayers this year focused on how "the road to Calvary passes through the streets we travel every day."
Jesus came to change the world and, "for us, that means changing direction, seeing the goodness of your way, letting the memory of your gaze transform our hearts," he wrote in his introduction.
"It is enough to listen to his invitation: "Come! Follow me!". And trust in that gaze of love," and from there "everything blossoms anew," he wrote, and places torn apart by conflict can move toward reconciliation, and "a heart of stone can become a heart of flesh."
God trusts us
In the first station, "Jesus is condemned to death," the Pope emphasized how Jesus respects human freedom and trusts everyone by placing himself "in our hands."
Pilate could have released Jesus, but "he chose not to," the Pope wrote, asking the faithful to reflect on how "we have been prisoners of the roles we choose to continue to play, fearful of the challenge of a change in the direction of our lives."
"From this we can draw wonderful lessons: how to free the unjustly accused, how to recognize the complexity of situations, how to protest against lethal trials," the Pope wrote, because it is Jesus who "is silent before us, in each of our brothers and sisters exposed to judgment and fanaticism."
Religious disputes, legal disputes, the supposed common sense that prevents us from getting involved in the fate of others: a thousand reasons drag us to the side of Herod, the priests, Pilate and the crowd. Yet it could be otherwise," he wrote.
Do not shun the cross
For the second station, "Jesus carries his cross," the Pope wrote that the greatest burden is to try to avoid the cross and evade responsibility.
"All we have to do," he wrote, "is to stop running away and remain in the company of those you have given us, to join them, recognizing that only in this way can we cease to be prisoners of ourselves."
"Selfishness weighs more heavily on us than the cross. Indifference weighs more heavily on us than sharing," wrote the Pope.
No fear of falling
At the seventh station, "Jesus falls the second time," the Pope emphasized how Jesus was not afraid to stumble and fall.
"All those who are ashamed of this, those who want to appear infallible, who hide their own downfalls but refuse to forgive those of others, reject the path you chose," he wrote.
"In you we were all found and brought home, like that sheep that had gone astray," his meditation said.
"An economy in which ninety-nine is more important than one is inhuman. Yet we have built a world that works like this: a world of calculations and algorithms, of cold logic and implacable interests," he wrote.
However, he wrote, "when we turn our hearts to you, who fall and rise again, we experience a change of direction and a change of pace. A conversion that restores our joy and brings us home safe and sound."
In his prayer for the eleventh station, "Jesus is nailed to the cross," the Pope asked to pray to God to "teach us to love" when "we are bound by unjust laws or decisions," when "we disagree with those who are not interested in truth and justice, and when everyone says, 'There is nothing to be done.'"
