Reflection by: Isaac Francis
Chronicles og a pilgrim – Day 3 – Rome/Greccio
#sequelachristi2025
We began today at the Holy Steps that Jesus climbed during His trial before Pilate, brought here by St Helena.
Inside, everyone ascended differently, some on their knees, some on all fours, an elderly lady lifted by her husband, others gripping the railings, each with their own pain but all looking toward the same Crucified Lord at the fresco on top. On each step I prayed a Hail Mary. She has been faithfully accompanying me through the rosary, and today I truly felt it. As my knees ached, she was carrying me forward.
I thought of Jesus on these steps, bruised, in chains, perhaps stumbling too. I was barely tasting a fraction of His Passion, yet He allows me to unite my trials with His victory.
Still within the the Holy Steps site, I paused before Our Lady of Sorrows, robed in black, crowned, her heart pierced. Standing so near the path of Jesus’ suffering, she reminded me again that she knows what love in pain looks like, as she walks with us in ours.
She continues to whisper to me, “Do whatever He tells you.”
We then went to St John Lateran. During confession here, the priest told me, “Jesus wants to turn your weaknesses into His strengths.” I walked out feeling lighter, as if the Lord had gathered the parts of me I hide and said, “I can use even this.”
Finally, as we walked through our final Holy Door at St. Mary Major, I carried in my heart those who are tired, searching, or afraid. The Jubilee theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” is exactly that, letting our steps become a prayer that hope is possible again.
Friar celebrated mass here, and during Communion, this hymn moved me:
“Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?”
And I prayed for the grace to answer:
In your company I’ll go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow
In you and you in me.
After Mass, we visited Pope Francis’ tomb, a plain white alcove, a small cross, and a marble slab with FRANCISCVS. Nothing ornate or grand.
Standing there, I felt God telling me that He isn’t asking for perfection, but surrender, not strength, but openness, and not to expect anything in return, but to love till it hurts.
