By Veronica Giacometti / EWTN News
VATICAN – Pope Leo XIV presided over the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion in St. Peter’s Basilica on Good Friday, during which the preacher of the papal household exhorted Christians to “approach the Lord’s Cross without fear.”
The April 3 liturgy began with the pope lying prostrate and then unfolded in three parts: the Liturgy of the Word, veneration of the cross, and Holy Communion.
In his homily, the papal preacher, Father Roberto Pasolini, OFMCap, said, “In a time like ours, still torn apart by hatred and violence, when even the name of God is invoked to justify wars and deadly decisions, we Christians are called to approach the Lord’s Cross without fear – indeed, with full trust – knowing that it is a throne upon which one sits and learns to reign with him by placing one’s life at the service of others.”
“If we can hold fast to the profession of this faith, then our days, too, will be able to give voice to the songs of both joy and suffering, that mysterious score of the cross in which the notes of the greatest love can be clearly recognized,” he continued.
The preacher recalled that the day’s liturgy invites Catholics to contemplate the Passion: “Yet the Cross of Christ risks remaining incomprehensible if we look at it only as an isolated fact, as a sudden event. In reality, it is the highest point of a journey, the fulfillment of an entire life in which Jesus learned to listen to and welcome the voice of the Father, allowing himself to be guided day by day all the way to the greatest act of love.”
“Jesus is the man of sorrows who knows suffering well – no violence, no resort to force, no temptation to destroy everything and start over from scratch. We know how difficult it is to embrace such a mission. We are tempted to use aggression and violence, thinking that without them, nothing can ever be resolved. But only meekness is the true strength for confronting the darkness of evil,” Father Pasolini said.
Referencing the act of venerating the cross, Father Pasolini encouraged those present to use the opportunity to “lay down the weapons” they are holding.
“They may not seem as dangerous as those wielded by the powerful of this world. Yet they, too, are instruments of death, because they are enough to weaken, wound, and drain meaning and love from our daily relationships,” he said.
“Salvation will not drop down from above, nor can it be guaranteed by political, economic, or military decisions. The world is constantly being saved by those who are willing to embrace the Songs of the Servant of the Lord as the shape of their own lives,” the preacher encouraged.
“This is what the Lord Jesus did. He took the Father’s will seriously, accepting it as a score to be carried out to the end, with loud cries and tears.”
“Tonight we too are handed the score of the Cross. We can freely accept it if we acknowledge that there is no difficulty that cannot be faced, no guilty party we must point to, no enemy who can prevent us from loving and serving.”
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