Good Friday, the day Jesus died, was celebrated one week ago on April 18^th. Pope Francis was not able to attend the Way of the Cross that was celebrated at the Colosseum in Rome. But he did write the text for each of the 14 Stations which took place just three days before he died. I have found these Stations of the Cross that he wrote to be as spiritually nourishing as anything I have ever read:

The Seventh Station

Jesus Falls the Second Time

From the Gospel according to Luke (15: 2-6)

And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’”

Fall and get up again; fall and get up again. That is how you taught us, Jesus, to approach the adventure of human life. A life that is human because it is open to the future. We do not permit machines to make mistakes: we expect them to be perfect.

People, on the other hand, get confused, distracted, lost. Yet they also know joy: the joy of new beginnings, the joy of rebirth. Humans are not mass-produced but handcrafted: we are unique treasures, a blend of grace and responsibility.

Lord Jesus, you made yourself one of us; you were not afraid to stumble and fall. All those who are embarrassed by this, those who want to appear infallible, who hide their own falls yet refuse to pardon those of others, reject the path that you chose.

You, Jesus, are the Lord of joy. In you, all of us were found and brought home, like the one sheep that had gone astray. An economy in which the ninety-nine are more important than the one is inhumane. Yet we have built a world that works like that: a world of calculation and algorithms, of cold logic and implacable interests.

The law of your home, the divine economy, is different, Lord. When we turn our hearts to you, who fall and rise again, we experience a change of course and a change of pace. A conversion that restores our joy and brings us safely home.

Let us pray, saying: Raise us up, God, our salvation!

Please pray this short litany several times today.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CAN’T BE PROVED. JESUS HIMSELF NEVER WANTED IT PROVED. JESUS ALWAYS WANTED FOLLOWERS, NOT DETECTIVES!

Please share these words of Pope Francis with others and remember Pope Francis in your prayers.