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Pope Francis during the Stations of the Cross – Reuters
One day Jesus said: “Let the children come to me.” Here they are, therefore, with their meditations and their designs, accompanying the way of the Cross. In the silence of an empty St. Peter’s Square (only a few dozen people, mainly cardinals and bishops, are next to the presiding Pope from the cemetery) their voices resound, ideally on behalf of the smallest of all the Earth.
“Teach me to be nice to others.” “Let me help those in need.” “Let me be good.” And at the end some of them, the little ones, gather around the Pontiff who, like a loving grandfather, leans down to embrace them.
Like last year, Francesco chooses to remain silent. But he speaks with these caresses that are valid as a speech for “all the crucified in the world.” And in practice it says that children participate in the suffering of the Crucified with their own sufferings: the Covid that took their grandfather, the harassment, the fears, the persecutions that “are not something from 2000 years ago.” But already in the darkest hour, they announce with simplicity the light of the resurrection. In fact, they approach the suffering Christ with the confidence of one who entrusts himself to a Father, an older Brother. As, tenderly, they did with him.
“I would like the strength of Jesus to always go forward”, we read, for example, at the bottom of one of the illustrations in the booklet. It really can be the invocation of all humanity prostrated by Covid, which also this year (although in a more attenuated way compared to 2020) does not stop reverberating its effects at Easter. When at 9 p.m. on a Roman afternoon, Francis begins to preside over the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday – which for the second time in a row had to move here from the traditional setting of the Colosseum – the eyes of the world are focused on the Bishop of Rome. and his friends. As is well known, the texts of the meditations and prayers of the fourteen stations were written by the Agesci “Foligno I” exploration group from Umbria and by the Roman Parish of the Holy Martyrs of Uganda. The images that accompany the different moments of the Via Dolorosa are drawings made by children and young people from the “Mater Divini Amoris” family home and the “Tetto Casal Fattoria” family home.
As you scroll through them, you are amazed by the frankness of the expressions. There are those who compare the fall of Jesus under the weight of the cross with the effort to do one’s duty. “Even if I’m tired, I want to commit to finishing my homework.” “Help me to respect the other children”, writes the author of the drawing of the tenth station (Jesus is stripped of his clothes). While the episode of Veronica wiping the Lord’s face becomes an occasion to invoke: “Let me help those I meet in my life.”
Entrusting the meditations of the Way of the Cross to children, Pope Francis invites us to look at the suffering of humanity – especially in this time marked by the pandemic – through the eyes of the smallest, the vice-editorial director of the Vatican media, Alessandro Gisotti, said yesterday., And Roberto Romolo, head of the international relations office of Vatican Media. And during the ritual, which is filmed by 170 connected televisions, this particular gaze emerges clearly. The Cross advances from station to station around the obelisk and along the path that leads to the cemetery. In this way, with the torches that trace the path on the ground, a large luminous cross is formed over the square.
The wood that makes up the entire itinerary is brought by a group of children and educators who have been entrusted with the meditations. In practice, they are read by the authors themselves. And each meditation corresponds to a drawing, which is shown on live television. Particularly moving is the one that illustrates the crucifixion of the Redeemer, eleventh station: “Jesus, I want to forgive those who mock me and be their friend.” While commenting on the deposition, the author of the drawing writes: “Let me be calm in bad times.” Considering that these children (as we distinguish them more extensively) come from difficult situations, it is practically a diary.
The point of arrival is in the final sentence. «Help us to be like them, small, in need of everything, open to life. Let’s recover the purity of the look and the heart. We ask you to bless and protect all the children of the world – invokes the reader -. Bless also the parents and those who collaborate with them in the education of these children of yours, so that they always feel united to You in giving life and love.
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