Good Friday suffering
In his book Death on a Friday Afternoon, Richard John Neuhaus explores “the meaning of suffering, of justice, of loss, of death and of whatever hope there may be on the far side of death”….by contemplating the death of Jesus.
Self-sacrifice happens all around us everyday in acts usually unnoticed. In big catastrophes and tragic events, the death, suffering and heroic self-giving unfolds before our eyes. As it is this week in Italy.
Pope Benedict XVI today implored God to give the victims of the Abruzzo earthquake eternal rest as more than 200 of the dead were given an emotional mass state funeral on a day of national mourning…
Italy was represented at the funeral by President Napolitano and Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, who has taken charge of the disaster operation over the past few days as rescue workers race against time to find survivors amid continuing powerful aftershocks which continue to cause fear and anxiety. The death toll stands at 287 since the earthquake struck on Monday.
The funeral was conducted by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, and the Archbishop of L’Aquila, Giuseppe Molinari. In a message read out at the service, the Pope said that the earthquake had been felt in the Vatican.
He said that in “these dramatic hours of human tragedy” he felt “spiritually present among you to share your distress”. He said that he implored God to give the victims eternal rest, to enable the injured to recover swiftly, and to give courage to the survivors to “continue to hope”.
He praised emergency workers and the people of the torn region for their solidarity.
Berlusconi’s newspaper Il Giornale ran the headline today Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross.
Mr Berlusconi said that the dead were the dead of the whole nation. He thanked the inhabitants of Abruzzo for their fortitude and dignity in the face of tragedy.
