How many and how many times our eyes are laid on a simple cross or a crucifix, distracted in this world, penthouse, shallow? How many times entering a church or passing of religious shrines on street corners, on country lanes or mountain, or placing it in the neck for devotion, both for fashion, our eyes have seen the cross, how many times since as children we marked with the sign of the Cross, reciting a prayer or looking at the crucifix hanging on the wall of our bedroom, so beginning and ending our day.
Cross symbol of Christianity in our life since birth, signs of the rite of Baptism, in the absolution in the Sacrament of Penance, in the blessings and dates in all our actions and devotional sacramental to the last mark made by the priest in the Sacrament of the Sick, in the processional cross before the funeral and in the cross of marble or other material, resting on the grave. So in our life and yet so often ignored and looked at us without saying anything, and used with casual eye, yet the cross is the supreme symbol of suffering and death of Jesus, true God and true man, who with his sacrifice has redeemed us from the death of sin, showing us the real life passing through suffering. with His parables Jesus taught that the seed is buried, decays and dies, to give new life to the plant that he will be born. Throughout human history and Historical Jesus, The Passion, "which culminated in the Good Friday always means all the painful events that struck him to death on the cross. This progressive and painful series of acts was called "Via Crucis" (extra-liturgical practice, introduced to Europe by Dominican Blessed Alvaro, († 1402), and after him by the Franciscan Friars Minor), that the Catholic Church, recalls all his time with the 14 'stations'; squares attached to the walls or along the ridges of the hills where there are shrines, pilgrimage, with kiosks, groups of statues and chapels, which invite meditation and penance in each of these' Stations 'are depicted with various artistic expressions, painful moments of the Way of the Cross and Passion of Jesus, high expression of symbolism and art, for example, are the Sacred Mountains such as those at Varallo and Varese, and the famous Breton Calvary. The Passion of Jesus began after the Last Supper with the Apostles estate, where he gave humanity the greatest gift you could: in the Sacrament of the Eucharist itself, also the establishment of the Christian priesthood and the great lesson in humility and love towards the neighbor with the washing of the feet of the Twelve Apostles.
The Gospels recount the events fairly accurately and consistently, in the spring of 30, Jesus descends with his disciples from Galilee to Jerusalem, during Passover, the annual memorial of the miraculous deliverance of the people of Egypt jew. Here held the Last Supper, which was in fact replaced the old memorial with the new, to be renewed in time to his return: "This is my body which is given for you", "This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you "," Do this in remembrance of me. " In
But his sacrifice is presented in the Gospels as the implementation of the prophets, contained in the Scriptures, and sets out a great truth by giving a mild and benevolent in the hands of men who will do what he want, the 'Lamb of God "took upon himself and has 'taken away' the sin of the world (John 1:29). 
The 'Passion' is held with a sequence of dramatic images, first of all, the betrayal of Judas, who sells it and accuse him with a kiss in the garden located on the side of the Kidron Valley, where he had retired to pray with her disciples, and where Jesus had had a vision for the next agonizing end, blood and sweat to the point of asking the Father to pass, if possible, this bitter cup of suffering, but at the same time he agreed to do His will. night following his arrest by soldiers and police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, Jesus undergoes the interrogation of Anna, a former high priest and father of the powerful high priest Caiaphas, and then led the proceedings of the Jewish Sanhedrin by Caiaphas, who makes an accusation at all costs, allowing his sentence to death, but the law in force in Jerusalem, could not be implemented by the Jewish authorities. At the same time concrete the triple denial of his first disciple Peter, then Jesus is led by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, accused of having proclaimed king of the Jews, thereby committing the crime of treason to the Roman emperor. In comparison with Pilate, Jesus says his kingship, despite the fact that there can be no guilt in him, clinging to power, the governor guilty of cowardice, they do not make a decision to Pilate, who according to the Gospel of Luke (23 , 6) not wanting to act, he sends him to King Herod, present in those days in Jerusalem, which after a futile interrogation and instigated by the chief priests and scribes, and mocks him with taunts, then covered with a beautiful as it refers to Pilate. Again hesitant Pilate asks the people what crime has this man, because he finds none, to the cries of condemnation does scourged, thinking it will calm down, but they shouted louder and louder to be crucified, Pilate according to customs local, being able to free a prisoner at the Passover, he asked the people if they wanted to choose between Jesus and a rebel prisoner named Barabbas, who had many deaths on his conscience, but also to make this choice the people expressed shouting for Barabbas. Unable to do anything else, the governor symbolically washed his hands and condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion, death penalty carried out at that time and gave it to soldiers.
soldiers with fierce cunning, put it on his head, mocking, a crown of sharp thorns and loaded on his shoulders, already battered by a piercing through it, the "patibulum", going up the hill of Golgotha \u200b\u200bor Calvary, the place of ' running. The Way of the Cross of Jesus has a few meetings, not all reported unanimously by the four evangelists, such as meeting with Simon of Cyrene, forced by soldiers to carry the cross of Jesus or to share the burden, the encounter with the women of Jerusalem which says in apocalyptic tones to cry on their own, the encounter with Veronica, the falls o'er the hill.
Once on the summit of Calvary, the soldiers are stripped of his garments, which were drawn by lot from among the soldiers themselves, then crucified with nails to the cross, hideous and atrocious torture, leading Jesus to death after a few hours, always between insults and offenses, at the end instead of break his legs to hasten death by suffocation, being already dead, a centurion's spear pierce his side for sure.
There is still a whole series of events that occur before and after his death, as the suicide of Judas, the exchange of words with the two thieves crucified on that occasion too, the glimpse of the Veil of the Temple Jerusalem, the earthquake, the upheaval of the elements, the presence of Mary at the foot of the Cross his mother, Mary of Magdala (Mary Magdalene), Mary of Cleophas, the mother of James the Less and Joseph, Salome, mother of the sons of Zebedee and John the most young apostles, the mutual trust between Mary and John, his last words before dying.
The 'Passion' results, after the deposition for the hasty approach of the holidays on Saturday, with the burial of his mortal body in a tomb given by Joseph of Arimathea, who also became his disciple, wrapped in a shroud and sprinkled with oil and spices usual, then the rock-cut tomb was closed by a large stone.
In this context the final fits the existence and veneration of the Shroud of Turin, preserved in Turin Cathedral, tangible evidence of the suffering and cruelty suffered by Jesus to his crucifixion.
Given the limited space available, it is bound to be pretty quick to describe the 'Passion of Our Lord', but this historic event, you can meditate extensively, participating in the rites of Holy Week, which for centuries the Catholic Church and other Christian churches celebrate.
add only that Jesus wanted to suffering and death, taking upon himself the sufferings and pains of every kind of humanity, as a "nail drives out nail "while indicating that suffering is a necessary evil, because writing in the history of every single man, as is the death of the body, as a consequence of sin, but it can be transformed into a beacon of hope, sharing with the suffering of our brothers, who share with us, each in its short or long life on earth, the journey towards the heavenly homeland. This concept
and enhancement of the pain was over thousands of years Christians have understood and assimilated by many mystical souls, to the point want nothing more than to share the pain of 'Passion'; obtained by Christ to carry in their bodies and tormented the visible signs of so much pain, as well as many there was the sacrifice of their lives, following the example of the Redeemer, for the affirmation of their faith in him and in his teachings.
So here is the vast array of martyrs from the early days after the death of Jesus and to this day, suffered and died violently, in ways perhaps even more agonizing crucifixion, such as being torn apart alive by wild beasts; burned at the stake, torn apart by wild Missions, flayed alive, and so on.
Then referring to when he first mentioned the signs of 'Passion' on your body, just to name a few: The Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, plug in front of s. Rita da Cascia etc..
The sad and painful story of 'Passion', has always inspired popular piety to participate in the rites of Good Friday, with demonstrations of great charm and penitence, with processions of 'Mysteries', large and small paintings, with statues mostly of paper, the various episodes of the 'Via Crucis', in particular the meeting of Jesus carrying the cross with his mother and the holy women, or with Jesus who died, led to the tomb, followed dall'effige of Our Lady of Sorrows.
In all churches, from the Colosseum with the pope, there are the 'Via Crucis', even on the streets of countries and districts of cities; in some cases, centuries-old tradition, they are carried out by the faithful with period costumes and come up with a mock crucifixion, in other cases to be centuries of penitential confraternities held processions with hooded or not people who flagellate themselves with objects or sting so sharp and continuing conflict in the penitential procession, as in the famous penance Sanframondi Guard.
It would take a book to describe them all, but you can not forget to mention the baroque rituals of Good Friday in Seville.
the 'Passion' of Jesus is associated with the image of Our Lady of Sorrows, which represented the greatest artists with the Crucifixion, at the foot of the Cross, or Christ lying in his arms after the deposition, like the famous 'Pieta' by Michelangelo, the 'Lamentation over the Dead Christ' by Giotto, the 'Crucifixion' by Masaccio, to name a few.
The subject of 'Passion', continued to be well represented with modern technologies, such as using actors capable, natural scenery and dramatic expressions of pain, has led to a wider national and international public the whole story of Jesus' earthly .
is particularly the case of cinema, with many videos of great emotional value, like "The Gospel According to Matthew" by Pier Paolo Pasolini, the "Jesus of Nazareth "by Franco Zeffirelli, the series of colossal and historical ones, such as" The King of Kings, "" The Robe ", etc.. until the last great for its drama "The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson. In addition, the television
present today in every home, he repeated to an even wider television productions and the many films with this subject, that economic issues and the crisis of cinema, would no longer be seen.
Friday is the day of the Cross, this symbol is to guide the Christians and others, whilst taking away from this religion, which in many ways at its center, the pain and suffering, even accepted and transformed, and we know that no one likes to suffer, and everyone wants to strive for happiness without first suffering.
In conclusion we report the subjects of the Stations of the Cross XIV: I =
The trial and sentencing;
II = The load on the shoulders of the cross
III = The first fall;
IV = The encounter with the Mother , V =
aid of Cyrene;
VI = The encounter with the Veronica
VII = second fall;
VIII = meeting with the women of Jerusalem;
IX = third fall;
Jesus stripped and X = place on the cross;
XI = The crucifixion;
= XII's death on the Cross, XIII = The
deposition;
XIV = The burial in the tomb.
Saints and Beati
