In Rome, there is a long staircase called the Scala Santa - the Holy Stairs. These are the twenty-eight marble steps that led to Pontius Pilate's Praetorium in Jerusalem. At some point the stairs were dismantled and brought to Rome, where pilgrims have climbed them on their knees for centuries as an act of repentance for the sins of the world.
It's an uncomfortable climb. Some people don't understand and mock the experience. To each his own. But while making the climb, I wrote short, one-line prayers along the way. I recently found the prayer again in the sabbatical journal I kept, and am pleased to share it with you now, at the start of Lent. I've added two subsequent prayers.
Jesus - for the wars we create
Jesus - for our neglect and indifference towards you
Jesus - for the deals we make and the preparations for war
Jesus - for our sexual violence
Jesus - for our abandonment of children
Jesus - for our killing of children
Jesus - for the lies of church and government
Jesus - for the abuses of power
Jesus - for national greed
Jesus - for our veneration of guns
Jesus - for our selfish disregard of others
Jesus - for the hatred that results in murders
Jesus - for the destruction of the land, the water, the animals, the air
Jesus - for our racial and religious prejudice
Jesus - for the sins against justice that keeps people poor
Jesus - for the wasting of your gifts; our life-denying addictions
Jesus - for our refusal to share
Jesus - for our idolatry of possessions and power
Jesus - for our pretending not to see
Jesus - for squandering our riches on ourselves
Jesus - for our judgments of division and hatred
Jesus - for arrogant thinking - only we are right
Jesus - for our lack of joy in you
Jesus - for the torture and enslavement of people
Jesus - for our superficiality and obsession with fun, ease and comfort
Jesus - for our ignorance of your Gospel and the trivialization of your Word
Jesus - for our dishonesty, lust, entitlement, violence and lack of repentance
Jesus - for our inhospitality, our sending people away
Jesus - for the sins of the clergy
