World Youth Day Way of the Cross: discoure of Pope Benedict XVI
On Friday evening Pope Benedict XVI joined hundreds of thousands of people for a Way
of the Cross liturgy in Madrid's central Plaza de Cibeles. The moving ceremony, on
the second day of the Pope's visit to the Spanish capital, recalled the suffering
of other young men and women in countries across the globe. Read the full text
of the Pope's words: Dear Young People, We have celebrated this Way of the
Cross with fervour and devotion, following Christ along the path of his passion and
death. The commentaries of the Little Sisters of the Cross, who serve the poor and
most needy, have helped us enter into the mystery of Christ’s glorious Cross, wherein
is found God’s true wisdom which judges the world and judges those who consider themselves
wise (cf. 1 Cor 1:17-19). We have also been assisted on this journey to Calvary by
our contemplation of these wonderful images from the religious patrimony of the Spanish
dioceses. In these images, faith and art combine so as to penetrate our heart and
summon us to conversion. When faith’s gaze is pure and authentic, beauty places itself
at its service and is able to depict the mysteries of our salvation in such a way
as to move us profoundly and transform our hearts, as Saint Teresa of Jesus herself
experienced while contemplating an image of the wounded Christ (cf. Autobiography,
9:1). As we were making our way with Jesus towards the place of his sacrifice
on Mount Calvary, the words of Saint Paul came to mind: “Christ loved me and gave
himself for me” (Gal 2:20). In the face of such disinterested love, we find ourselves
asking, filled with wonder and gratitude: What can we do for him? What response shall
we give him? Saint John puts it succinctly: “By this we know love, that he laid down
his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 Jn 3:16).
Christ’s passion urges us to take upon our own shoulders the sufferings of the world,
in the certainty that God is not distant or far removed from man and his troubles.
On the contrary, he became one of us “in order to suffer with man in an utterly real
way — in flesh and blood ... hence in all human suffering we are joined by one who
experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence con-solatio is present in all
suffering, the consolation of God's compassionate love — and so the star of hope rises”
(Spe Salvi, 39). Dear young friends, may Christ’s love for us increase your joy
and encourage you to go in search of those less fortunate. You are open to the idea
of sharing your lives with others, so be sure not to pass by on the other side in
the face of human suffering, for it is here that God expects you to give of your very
best: your capacity for love and compassion. The different forms of suffering that
have unfolded before our eyes in the course of this Way of the Cross are the Lord’s
way of summoning us to spend our lives following in his footsteps and becoming signs
of his consolation and salvation. “To suffer with the other and for others; to suffer
for the sake of truth and justice; to suffer out of love and in order to become a
person who truly loves — these are fundamental elements of humanity, and to abandon
them would destroy man himself” (ibid.). Let us eagerly welcome these teachings
and put them into practice. Let us look upon Christ, hanging on the harsh wood of
the Cross, and let us ask him to teach us this mysterious wisdom of the Cross, by
which man lives. The Cross was not a sign of failure, but an expression of self-giving
in love that extends even to the supreme sacrifice of one’s life. The Father wanted
to show his love for us through the embrace of his crucified Son: crucified out of
love. The Cross, by its shape and its meaning, represents this love of both the Father
and the Son for men. Here we recognize the icon of supreme love, which teaches us
to love what God loves and in the way that he loves: this is the Good News that gives
hope to the world. Let us turn our gaze now to the Virgin Mary, who was given
to us on Calvary to be our Mother, and let us ask her to sustain us with her loving
protection along the path of life, particularly when we pass through the night of
suffering, so that we may be able to remain steadfast, as she did, at the foot of
the Cross.