Young Lebanese Catholics write Via Crucis meditations

2013-03-29 Vatican Radio
(Vatican Radio) The meditations for the Via Crucis on Good Friday at Rome’s Colosseum have been written by a group of young Catholics from Lebanon. The meditations were written under the guidance of the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Rai, who was invited to write them following Pope Benedict’s pastoral visit to Lebanon last year.

Vatican Radio's Susy Hodges spoke to two Lebanese Catholics who were involved in this project.
Listen to the extended interview with Lebanese Catholics Tony El Chayeb and Firas Wehbe:

Many of the themes touched on during the meditations take their inspiration from the plight of the minority Christian communities living in the Middle East. Tony El Chayeb wrote the meditation for the 10th Station of the Cross and says he was "very excited and grateful" for this opportunity. He went on to explain how his meditation for the 10th Station talks about how "Jesus Christ is "giving us new hope" and is "helping us to understand better our mission in the Middle East."

He believes that young Lebanese Catholics like himself are "more and more attached" to their homeland and to their faith." This Way of the Cross, Tony continues, "is for every Christian" because without the Cross "there is no Resurrection." He says there are many difficulties facing Christians today in Lebanon including "the temptation" to emigrate to other countries but despite these challenges there are many young Catholics living "with joy" their faith in Christ.

Another young Lebanese man who was involved in the project was Firas Wehbe who spoke of his happiness about "the honour" it represented. Like Tony, he believes "it is a sign from God" to continue their "mission" living in the Middle East as Christians. Firas says the meditations talk about "our fear, our pain" amid the many difficulties facing Christians in Lebanon and other countries of the Middle East.

Asked whether he fears for the future given the civil war in neighbouring Syria and the turmoil in so many countries of the Middle East, Firas says they are "optimistic despite the war" and believes Lebanon should be "an example" for all countries (of co-existence between people of different faiths). Our main "challenge," he continues, is to continue existing as a living community at a time when so many Christians are emigrating from this area.

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Pope Francis at the Via Crucis: Full Text

2013-03-30 Vatican Radio
On Friday night, Pope Francis led a celebration of the Via Crucis at Rome’s Colosseum. The meditations were been written by a group of young Catholics from Lebanon. At the end of the celebration, Pope Francis briefly addressed the thousands of people who attended the event.
Below is the full text of his address:
Dear Brother and Sisters,
Thank you for having taken part in these moments of deep prayer. I also thank those who have accompanied us through the media, especially the sick and elderly.
I do not wish to add too many words. One word should suffice this evening, that is the Cross itself. The Cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, forgiveness. It is also reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us. Remember this: God, in judging us, loves us. If I embrace his love then I am saved, if I refuse it, then I am condemned, not by him, but my own self, because God never condemns, he only loves and saves.
Dear brothers and sisters, the word of the Cross is also the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in us and around us. Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the Cross upon themselves as Jesus did. This evening we have heard the witness given by our Lebanese brothers and sisters: they composed these beautiful prayers and meditations. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to them for this work and for the witness they offer. We were able to see this when Pope Benedict visited Lebanon: we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others. That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world: a sign of hope.
We now continue this Via Crucis in our daily lives. Let us walk together along the Way of the Cross and let us do so carrying in our hearts this word of love and forgiveness. Let us go forward waiting for the Resurrection of Jesus, who loves us so much. He is all love.

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