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Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Stations of the Cross

Here is the Stations of the Cross devotion which is to be said this Good Friday by Pope Benedict XVI at the Coloseum in Rome:

PRESENTATION
MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS

This was written by Archbishop Angelo Comastri. From his introduction:
In making the “Way of the Cross”, we are struck by the certainty of two things: the destructive power of sin and the healing power of God’s Love.

The destructive power of sin: the Bible never tires of repeating that evil is evil because it hurts us: sin is self-punishment; it carries its own retribution. A few texts of Jeremiah clearly make this point: “They went after worthlessness, and became worthless themselves” (2:5); “your wickedness will punish you, and your apostasies will convict you; know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you” (2:19); “your crimes have made all this go wrong, your sins have deprived you of all these favours” (5:25).
And from the prayers of the devotion:
O Jesus, I stand in sorrow
at the foot of your cross:
I myself have helped erect it by my sins!
Your goodness which offers no resistance,
and allows itself to be crucified,
is a mystery beyond my grasp;
it leaves me profoundly troubled.

Lord, you came into the world for my sake,
to seek me out and to lead me
the Father’s loving embrace:
the embrace for which I long!

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