Chai Brady
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told a large crowd who braved the weather on Good Friday that people who uncompromisingly stand up for their principles “are not always accepted in our times” during the Way of the Cross in Dublin.
Beginning at Wellington Monument at noon Dr Martin led a procession through the Phoenix Park to the Papal Cross, stopping five times to recall moments of Christ’s passion.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who led the Way of the Cross for the 16th time this year, offered a reflection at each interval. At the first he described how Jesus was troubled before his time of trial, saying : “Indeed this same Jesus who during his life spoke about and witnessed to his closeness with God the Father, seems abandoned even by God.”
“The Father remains faithful. An Angel comes to give him strength but his anguish remains to the extent that even blood flows with his tears.
Dr Martin added that through Jesus’ anguish and his serenity at the face of betrayal, “he shows what integrity means”.
Trial
In his second reflection he focused on Jesus’ abandonment and trial, and the need for integrity among those that follow him, saying: “It is easy to go through the formulae, to say the right words that will not offend anyone but neither will ever convince anyone. It is easy to fall in with outward signs of decorum and never come to know Jesus and to understand the radicalism of Jesus’ call.”
“We remember all those who face injustice, especially those who face injustice and persecution because of their faith, and those who face discrimination because of their racial, sexual or cultural difference.”
Divisive
Dr Martin said that those who are principled can be called “intolerant and the divisive” adding that consumerism can “eat away” at integrity, and that a throwaway society “inevitably begins to throw away even its principles”.
He prayed for young people saying: “Lord protect our young people from falling into the trap of superficiality. Help them to dig deeper into their hearts to discover where true values are rooted. Give them the gift of true discernment. Encourage them to understand that success is not just a rat race about themselves, but springs from a culture of deep respect.”
During his fourth reflection Dr Martin told those in the procession that good and evil is still alive in the world, and prayed for help to “fight evil with goodness”.
At the final station Archbishop Martin encouraged everyone not to judge others, saying: “We are all sinners on the path to conversion.”