Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 307

In the presence of such torment, we feel powerless and we cannot find the

right words. Before a brother or sister plunged into the mystery of the Cross,

a respectful and compassionate silence, a prayerful presence, a gesture of

tenderness and comfort, a kind look, a smile, often achieve more than many

words. This was the experience of a small group of men and women, including

the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John, who followed Jesus in the depths of

his suffering at the time of his Passion and his death on the Cross. Among

them, the Gospel tells us, was an African, Simon of Cyrene. He was given the

task of helping Jesus to carry his Cross on the way to Golgotha. This man,

albeit through no choice of his own, came to the aid of the Man of Sorrows

when he had been abandoned by all his followers and handed over to blind

violence. History tells us, then, that an African, a son of your continent, took

part, at the price of his own suffering, in the infinite suffering of the one who

ransomed all men, including his executioners. Simon of Cyrene could not

have known that it was his Saviour who stood there before him. He was

" drafted in " to assist him; 5 he was constrained, forced to do so. It is hard

to accept to carry someone else's cross. Only after the resurrection could he

have understood what he had done. Brothers and sisters, it is the same for

each of us: in the depths of our anguish, of our own rebellion, Christ offers us

his loving presence even if we find it hard to understand that he is at our side.

Only the Lord's final victory will reveal for us the definitive meaning of our

trials.

Can it not be said that every African is in some sense a member of the

family of Simon of Cyrene? Every African who suffers, indeed every person

who suffers, helps Christ to carry his Cross and climbs with him the path to

Golgotha in order one day to rise again with him. When we see the infamy to

which Jesus was subjected, when we contemplate his face on the Cross, when

we recognize his appalling suffering, we can glimpse, through faith, the ra-

diant face of the Risen Lord who tells us that suffering and sickness will not

have the last word in our human lives. I pray, dear brothers and sisters, that

you will be able to recognize yourselves in " Simon of Cyrene ". I pray, dear

brothers and sisters who are sick, that many of you will encounter a Simon at

your bedside.

Since the resurrection, and right up to our own time, there have been

countless witnesses who have turned, with faith and hope, towards the Sa-

3 0 O t t o b r e 2 0 0 9 - 0 9 : 3 7 p a g i n a 3 0 7 e : / 0 6 9 1 _ 9/L a v o r o/Ac t a _Ap r i l e _ 9 . 3 d GRECCO

5 Cfr. Mk 15, 21.