Meditations written by the Archbishop Bassetti for Good Friday‘s assembly
The theme of the family accompanied, yesterday evening, Pope Francis through the stations of the Via Crucis at the Colosseum. The meditations for that traditional event were written by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, Archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve, who titled his reflection "God is mercy."
"How much fear—says the meditation of the First Station (Jesus is condemned to death)—how much fear there is in our lives! We are afraid of what is different, of strangers and migrants. We are afraid of the future, of unexpected events, of misery. How much fear in our families, in the workplace, in our cities…" Yet, the meditation of the Fourth Station (Jesus meets His Mother) continues: "yesterday and today, the family is the beating heart of society; the inalienable cell of common life; the irreplaceable lintel of human relations; everlasting love that will save the world." In the meditation at the Ninth Station (Jesus falls the third time), the reference is to how many times "men and women fall to the ground. How many times men, women and children suffer from a broken family. How many times men and women feel that they have lost their dignity because they no longer have a job. How many times young people are forced to live a precarious life and lose hope for the future." People end up laying on the ground "for many reasons: personal sins, failed marriages, loneliness, job loss, family dramas, anxiety about the future." Finally, in the Fourteenth Station (Jesus is laid in the tomb), and this call is addressed to Jesus: "Come into our graves: revive the spark of your love in the heart of every man, in the womb of every family, on the path of every people."