EUROPE/SPAIN - Pilgrimage of the World Youth Day Cross begins. Archbishop of Madrid: “We wish to reach the end of our path as pilgrims who have sought and found Christ Crucified.”

Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - “We wish to reach the end of our path as pilgrims who have sought and found Christ Crucified.” This is what Cardinal Antonio M. Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid, said during a Prayer Vigil celebrated the evening of September 14, Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in the Cathedral of “La Almudena,” for the initiation of the Pilgrimage of the Cross of the Youth and the Icon of Our Lady, in preparation for World Youth Day in Madrid 2011.
“Yes, we hope to reach the goal of our spiritual path, WYD 2011, 'rooted and founded' in Him, steadfast in our faith, to join all the youth of the world, along with the Holy Father and the Pastors of the Church throughout the earth, in celebrating the triumph of God's Love, manifest and poured out upon humanity through the Glorious Cross of His Son,” the Cardinal said in his homily. Unfortunately, even today, Christ Crucified is a “scandal” to society that questions how one could think that the solution to the grave injustices of the world, to the pain and suffering of the downtrodden, to illness, to death...could be found in “a Jew” crucified by his own people. There are also those who consider the Christian message ridiculous, thinking that man “neither needs nor depends on God.”
On the flip-side, there is a reality that is “just as real, present, and undeniable,” Cardinal Rouco said, visible in those youth who with their lives “which are so often empty and disoriented, hear Christ's voice in the deepest recesses of their hearts.” And even those who are scandalized by Christ's Cross and ridicule it, “often hide an interior restlessness and torment behind their own lack of faith.”
In response to this situation, the Archbishop expressed his hope that “our journey with the Glorious Cross of the Savior and the Icon of His Most Holy Mother through the streets and squares of Madrid and all Spain,” may “be illumined and penetrated with the light and life of Christ, through the merciful love that comes forth from his Sacred Heart.” Only in Jesus Christ, in fact, and with a simple heart, can man find healing, “the wisdom and strength of True Life.”
The Archbishop of Madrid then concluded his homily, asking that the Virgin Mary “teach us to live our Path as pilgrims,” through her “motherly affection, always patient in response to our weakness and laziness, encouraging us not to give up.” (GT) (Agenzia Fides 15/09/2009)