Rome, Italy, Apr 10, 2009 / 13:05 pm
Thousands of the faithful gathered in the Colleseum today for the Good Friday Way of the Cross ceremony led by Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, who reflected on the trials of Christians in India and elsewhere. Afterwards, Pope Benedict delivered an address, encouraging everyone to look on the face of Jesus, who changed the world by his death.
Pope Benedict XVI gave the following reflection to the crowd and those tuned in by radio or television.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
At the end of his dramatic Passion narrative, the Evangelist Saint Mark tells us: "The centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, and said: ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’" (Mk 15:39). We cannot fail to be surprised by the profession of faith of this Roman soldier, who had been present throughout the various phases of the Crucifixion. When the darkness of night was falling on that Friday so unlike any other in history, when the sacrifice of the Cross was already consummated and the bystanders were making haste to celebrate the Jewish Passover in the usual way, these few words, wrung from the lips of a nameless commander in the Roman army, resounded through the silence that surrounded that most singular death. This Roman army officer, having witnessed the execution of one of countless condemned prisoners, was able to recognize in this crucified man the Son of God, who had perished in the most humiliating abandonment. His shameful end ought to have marked the definitive triumph of hatred and death over love and life. But it was not so! Hanging from the Cross on Golgotha was a man who was already dead, but that man was acknowledged to be the "Son of God" by the centurion, "on seeing that he thus breathed his last," as the Evangelist specifies.