There is but one Owner of the World

MEDITATION:

As Pascal insightfully observed:
“Jesus will be in agony until the end of the world;
and we cannot sleep during this time”.

Where is Jesus in agony in our own time?
In the division of our world into belts of prosperity
and belts of poverty ... this is Christ’s agony today.
Our world is made of two rooms:
in one room, things go to waste,
in the other, people are wasting away;
in one room, people die from surfeit,
in the other, they die from indigence;
in one room, they are concerned about obesity,
in the other, they are begging for charity.

Why don’t we open a door?
Who don’t we sit at one table?
Why don’t we realize that the poor
can help the rich?
Why? Why? Why are we so blind?

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, those who live to hoard riches
are the very ones you have called fools!

Yes, those who think they own anything
are really fools,
since there is but one Owner
of the world.

Lord Jesus,
the world is yours and yours alone.
Yet you have given it to everyone
so that the earth can become a home
where all find nourishment and shelter.

So hoarding riches is robbery,
if their useless accumulation
prevents others from living.

Lord Jesus,
put an end to the scandal
that divides the world
into castles and slums.
Lord, teach us once more the meaning of brotherhood!

Source:

WAY OF THE CROSS AT THE COLOSSEUM

LED BY THE HOLY FATHER POPE BENEDICT XVI
GOOD FRIDAY 2006