Latest update
05/06/2025
This booklet contains Father Giussani’s meditations on the Stations of the Cross preceded by excerpts from the Gospels and followed by prayers based on the liturgy for Good Friday. The author’s comments on the various Stations were first published in March 1997 in “Litterae Communionis-Tracce” (3, 1997, insert); on the occasion of the Twelfth World Youth Day the text was reissued unaltered in the booklet “Maestro dove abiti? Venite e vedrete” published by Comunione e Liberazione (pro manuscripto, Crema 1997, pp. 29-41).
In 1999 the Edizioni Dehoniane published the booklet Gesù è solo. Via Crucis (Edizioni Dehoniane, 1999), which contains the reflections of Father Giussani (unaltered), each preceded by an excerpt from the Gospels and followed by prayers from the liturgy different from those in the edition in question.
We are among the killers of Christ just like everyone else, like those who condemned Him to death, but He has forgiven us and His Presence persists in our lives.
Luigi Giussani suggests a deeper understanding of the moments along the Way of the Cross by commenting on the stations.
From the first station, we can identify with Him only under the condition that everyone’s heart is willing to accept Christ and to be moved in the memory of His sacrifice for the salvation of mankind. Sacrifice, in fact, is the condition for which we become aware that salvation is a gift and coincides with Christ. Mary’s gaze in front of the cross also invites us to identify with the awareness of the One who saw her Son die.
Just as Simon of Cyrene did by carrying that tool of torture, our identification results in accepting the cross, affirming it in the present with the same love with which Veronica wiped the face of Jesus.
We can look at Christ this way only if we start from the awareness of our own sin; and this awareness comes exclusively by looking at the face of the One we have “grieved”—it is the face of Being that, through the cross, frees man from the ephemeral to make him true.
From the eleventh station (Jesus is nailed to the cross), the Author insists that the true awareness of sin also carries with it the awareness of liberation; in fact, sacrifice is the premise of the Resurrection, it is the possibility for man to live a true life. The Resurrection for man starts with begging Christ and being thankful for the strength with which He loves him.
