The first prayer was pronounced by Jesus immediately after he was nailed to the cross, “while the soldiers are dividing his garments as sad reward of their service.” The prayer Christ uttered was: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
In his prayer of intercession, Jesus “asks forgiveness for his executioners,” and in doing so, “carries out what he had taught in the Sermon on the Mount” when he urged his followers to “love your enemy,” “do good to those who hate you,” and promised to reward those who forgive.
Crucially, said the Pope, Jesus gives “ignorance, ‘not knowing,’ as the reason for the request for forgiveness from the Father.” This should give “consolation for all times and for all men” because Jesus sees ignorance “as a door that can open us up to repentance.”
The second prayer of Christ is directed towards the good thief who repents after sensing he is “before the Son of God, who reveals the face of God.” Once he recognized this, the thief prayed, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” In doing so, Christ is “aware of entering directly into communion with the Father” and of “reopening the path for the man to God’s paradise.”
This should give all people hope, said Pope Benedict,since it shows that “the goodness of God can touch us even at the last moment of life.” And that “sincere prayer, even after a life of wrong, meets the open arms of the good Father who awaits the return of his son.”
The Pope then turned to Christ’s final prayer on the cross – “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” He noted how each of the Gospel writers describes different aspects of this moment in history, including the veil of the temple being torn down the middle, three hours of darkness over the land and earthquakes.
“The death of Jesus is explicitly characterized as a cosmic and liturgical event,” said the Pope, “it marks the beginning of a new worship in a temple not built by men.”