Sri Lanka’s Lenten devotion held amid calls for unity

(Feb.23, 2010): In Sri Lanka, thousands of Tamil Catholics took part in a Way of the Cross in Colombo on Sunday, amid calls by Church leaders to heal the wounds of division in the country. “We have to create unity with others and build up peace in our country,” said Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo in his homily during the Mass, held at the end of the annual procession. Also on the first Sunday of Lent, (Feb.21) about 15,000 Tamil Catholics and some Hindus, marched through Colombo city with members of parishes and religious congregations taking turns to carry a two–meter tall wooden cross on their shoulders. Other participants carried life-size statues of a bleeding Jesus. Lent is reconciliation with one another and with other faiths, said Pushpa Gomez, president of Joseph Vaz Mantram, a Catholic association that has organized the yearly procession for the past 14 years. “We want to convey this message by showing the bleeding body” of Christ, she said .
This Lenten season is the first that the Church is celebrating after the 26-year civil war between Tamil Tiger rebels and government troops ended last May.
The Way of the Cross that lasted for six hours, saw devotees praying at the 14 Stations of the Cross set up at main road junctions between Colombo cathedral and the Church of Our Lady of Sorrow. At each station, participants prayed for various groups of people such as war refugees, prisoners and victimized people.