Pope marks Good Friday in St. Peter's Basilica
Pope Benedict XVI led the faithful in the passion liturgy and veneration of the Cross
on Good Friday in St. Peter’s Basilica. As is customary, the preacher of the papal
household, Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa delivered the homily. Fr. Cantalamessa
reflected on the words of the centurion in Matthew’s Gospel after Christ’s death:
“Surely, this man was son of God.(Mt. 27:54)”“The cross is not only God’s judgement on the world and its wisdom,” said Fr. Cantalamessa. “It is more than the revelation and condemnation of sin. It is not God’s NO to the world, it is the YES God speaks to the world from the depths of his love.”
The preacher of the papal household went on to quote from the Pope’s recently released 2nd volume of Jesus of Nazareth, saying “[E]vil cannot simply be ignored; it cannot just be left to stand. It must be dealt with; it must be overcome. Only this counts as true mercy. And the fact that God now confronts evil himself, because men are incapable of doing so - therein lies the ‘unconditional’ goodness of God.(Jesus of Nazareth II, p.133)”
Fr. Cantalamessa went on to say, “The One whom we contemplate on the cross is God “in person”.
He is also the man Jesus of Nazareth, but that man is one person with the Son of the Eternal Father.
“Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is himself God, of one substance with the Father,” said Fr. Cantalamessa, “As long as the fundamental dogma of the Christian faith is not recognised and taken seriously, he said, “human suffering will remain unanswered.”
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