The early Christians knew that Jesus was the Son of God. As time passed they needed language to formulate and arrive at a better understanding of just what this meant.
During the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon in the 5th century Jesus’ mother Mary
was defined as Theotokos (Greek: Θεοτόκος, "God-bearer"). In other words Mary is the Mother of God, not simply the mother of another man. It is a definitive teaching within the Christian faith that Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man, one Divine Person with two natures (human and divine). Therefore, it is completely within the purview of orthodoxy to state that in the person of Jesus God was born, God lived, God walked the earth, God suffered, God carried the cross, God felt the nails being driven through his hands and feet, God bled blood and water after being pierced by a sword, and (incredibly) that God died.
Christians worship a God that quite literally experienced (to a greater degree) all the suffering, pains and vicissitudes of human life. This is the God we love and adore. He understands our suffering more than anyone else (even our own selves). God may not always take our pain away, but He does always share the pain with us. More importantly our suffering is transformative. We are not left to suffer indefinitely. As we shall see on Easter Sunday, Christ is resurrected and all things are made new.
The “Seven Last Words” of Christ from the cross traditionally make a good meditation for Christians on Good Friday. Please refer to the link below:
http://youtu.be/bcskgl8qoSk
A video and homily of the Pope's Via Crucis ceremony at the Colosseum:
http://www.romereports.com/palio/pope-presides-over-via-crucis-ceremony-at-colosseum-for-good-friday-english-6494.html
A video and homily of the Pope's Via Crucis ceremony at the Colosseum:
http://www.romereports.com/palio/pope-presides-over-via-crucis-ceremony-at-colosseum-for-good-friday-english-6494.html
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