On the fifth Lenten peregrination on 9 April, the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land gathered in prayer in the Shrine of the Condemnation, at the start of the Via Dolorosa.
The celebration was presided over by Fra Alessandro Coniglio, Discreet of the Holy Land and a lecturer at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. The concelebrants were Fra Giuseppe Gaffurini, guardian of the convent of the Flagellation, and Fra Piermarco Luciano, vicar of the fraternity of St Saviour.
The homily was given by Fra Ulise Zarza, formator at the International Theological Seminary of Jerusalem and lecturer in patristics at the Studium Theologicum Jerosylmitanum, who this year was asked to guide the meditations during the peregrinations.
The place, inside the Franciscan shrine of the Flagellation, commemorates the various phases of the trial that led to the condemnation of Christ by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, as narrated in Chapter 19 of the Gospel according to John.
The Roman flooring, called lithostrotos (i.e. floor paved with stone) which is referred to in the Book of John (John 19, 13) can still be seen in the chapel.
The flooring continues beyond the street towards the chapel of the Sisters of Zion and is traditionally identified as the area of the courtyard where Jesus was condemned.
From the memory of the Council of Nicaea, Fra Ulisse dwelled on the mystery of the creation and the incarnation of the Son to understand in full the meaning of his Passion. “All the drama of the Passion is expressed in the symbol of Nicaea with these words: “He suffered” (pathónta παθόντα); the Son of God suffered derision, humiliation and death.”
Jesus suffered humiliation in the lithostrotos due to the corruption of humanity, represented by Pontius Pilate who, betraying the truth, condemned him unjustly.
The second aspect of the passage from the Gospel on which Fra Ulisse dwelled is the freedom of Christ is embracing the cross, which becomes the way of salvation for the whole of humanity.
“It is not simply “lifting up and carrying” the cross, but it expresses a free and voluntary action. The Son of God knows that he has been incarnated to embrace the cross for the salvation of men.”
The mystery of the Passion shows how Jesus did not choose a glorious death, but a cross shared with the condemned.
“Even in the hour of his sacrifice, “ Fra Ulisse concludes, “the Son of God wanted to be counted among the wrongdoers. He was counted among the sinners so that we could be counted among the saints.”
Lucia Borgato
