The Secret and Solution to Family Problems Lie in the Crucified Christ

Each year in Rome, The Way of the Cross is celebrated at the

Colosseum. Meditations for the 14 stations are written each year.

This year, at Pope Benedict XVI's request, Anna Maria and Danilo Zanzucchi wrote the reflections. It is the first time the reflections have been written by a married couple. Anna Maria and Danilo are an Italian couple with 5 children and 12 grandchildren.

“In the face of such an important task, our first reactions were of wonder and trepidation, for we did not feel equal to it,” Danilo said.

“In reflecting on the Cross," Anna said, "We felt that not only the Church but the whole of humanity is caught up in this mystery. It is also clear how much Christ must have suffered, like any human being but with the sensitivity of a God.

“In our meditations, we have sought to convey our impressions of what Jesus lived in those moments, seeking to actualize them in the light of our own experience. It was not of course easy because we stand before such a great mystery. Yet we firmly believe that the secret and the solution to family problems lie in the Crucified Jesus. Christ on the Cross gave meaning to the pain we must face.

“I would just like to tell families in difficulty that we too have had our problems. Our marriage was born from reciprocal love like the marriage of every husband and wife. It is this spark that nourishes marriage. However, this love is sometimes extinguished because of many factors, it remains hidden and is forgotten, but its initial impetus lives on although it is smothered by the worries, misunderstandings and dramas of daily life. It must be rediscovered in the light of the love of God which unites. Christianity, in fact, brings two people who seek to love God and to love each other to be at once united and nevertheless distinct."

For their meditations, see the Vatican website.

Here is one excerpt:

As with each individual Christian, so each family has its own way of the cross, marked by sickness, death, financial troubles, poverty, betrayal, wrongdoing, clashes with relatives, natural disasters.

Yet each Christian, each family, in walking this path of sorrows, can look resolutely to Jesus, man and God.