Pope Leo led the Stations of the Cross Good Friday evening at the Colosseum in Rome, once a site of death in the ancient city.

Here are some thoughts for following the pope, from Fr. Francesco Patton, OFM, from the Vatican website:

“This route is not reserved for the devout or those seeking a quiet space for prayer, rather as in the time of Jesus, we find ourselves walking through a chaotic, distracting, and noisy environment, surrounded by people who share our faith in Him, but also by those who deride or insult Him. Such is the reality of our daily life.The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life. Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world”.

As Jesus is condemned to death by Pilate in the first station, we watch Jesus unmask “every human presumption of power”. Every person in authority will have to answer to God for the way they exercise their power,” as they start or end wars, sit in judgment, engage in economic activity, or promote or destroy human dignity.

As Jesus takes up His cross in the second station, we feel your own fear of pain and degradation. 

“Free us, Jesus, from fear of the cross. Give us the grace to follow the path you trod and to seek no glory other than in your cross.”

As Jesus falls in the third station, we are reminded that Jesus becoming human emptied himself.

“This fall is a foretaste of an even deeper descent. The descent into the realm of the dead and a surrender to the enigma of death—the fall that awaits each of us at the end of this earthly life.”

As Jesus meets His mother at the fourth station, we see the pain  of all mothers who endure the death of their children, whether by illness, accident, violence, or despair.

“Grant us a maternal heart, that we may understand and share in the suffering of others, and learn, in this way too, what it truly means to love.”

As Jesus receives help carrying His cross from Simon of Cyrene at the fifth station, we find him changed by the presence of Jesus.

“Even today, there are many people throughout the world who choose to do good for others. Many of them do not even believe in you, and yet—even unknowingly—they help you carry the cross.”

As Veronica wipes Jesus’ face at the sixth station, she received the gift of his face.

“Make us capable of wiping your face today, still covered with dust and blood, still disfigured by every act that tramples upon the dignity of the human person.”

As Jesus falls the second time at the seventh station, we find a love that raises up those who fall.

“When you fall, you do so to raise up those who are crushed to the ground by injustice, by falsehood, by every form of exploitation and violence, and by the misery produced by an economy that seeks individual profit rather than the common good.”

As Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem at the eighth station, we recall that presence of women wherever there is suffering.

“Give us tears once more, Lord, lest our conscience fade into the fog of indifference and we cease to be fully human.”

As Jesus falls the third time at the ninth station, we understand no matter how many time we fall, Jesus is there to lift us up in mercy.

“You desire that each of us, at your side, may reach the Father and find life—true life, eternal life—the life that nothing and no one can ever take away from us.”

As Jesus is stripped of His garments at the tenth station, we remember we see the indifference of  authoritarian, the media and our own lack of care before human dignity. 

“Remind us, Lord, that each time we fail to recognize the dignity of others, our own dignity is diminished. As Jesus is nailed to the cross at the eleventh station, we understand that true power is not force or violence, but rather the power of love to take upon ourselves the evil of humanity and destroy it with our forgiveness.”

As Jesus dies on the cross at the twelfth station, we witness His mission completed, as He returns to the Father and brings us with Him.

“We stand before the One who, in fulfilling the purpose of the Incarnation, opens for us the path to fulfill the deepest meaning of our own lives: to become children of God, to be His masterpiece,” 

As Jesus is taken down from the cross at the thirteenth station, we see His death begin to bear its first fruits as Joseph of Arimathea’s and Nicodemus courageously  approach Pilate for his body.

“Even in death, the human body retains its dignity and must not be desecrated, hidden, destroyed, withheld, or denied a proper burial.”

As Jesus is laid in the tomb at the fourteenth station, we enter to the Garden of Eden, where our first parents received the gift of a home but lost.

“Here Mary Magdalene received her mission to proclaim that death has been conquered: Jesus of Nazareth has risen; He is the Lord, the living One who dies no more.”