We proclaim the triumph of life over death
Our liturgical celebrations during the Easter Triduum
lead us from the
Upper Room to Calvary, and
from there to the joy of Christ's
Resurrection
At the General Audience of Wednesday, 19 April, the Holy
Father
reflected on the Sacred Triduum, when the Church celebrates
the
Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, and urged that
we all "open
our hearts and intensely live this Sacred Triduum. Let
us immerse
ourselves in the grace of these holy days". Here is a
translation of
his catechesis, which was given in Italian.
1. The Lenten journey we began on Ash Wednesday reaches
its
culmination during this Week which is appropriately called
"Holy". In
the days ahead we are preparing to celebrate the most
sacred events of
our salvation: the Passion, Death and Resurrection
of Christ.
The Cross stands before us in these days as an eloquent
symbol of
God's love for humanity. At the same time the dying Redeemer's
entreaty rings out in the liturgy: "My God, my God,
why have you
forsaken me?" (Mt 27: 46; Mk 15: 34). We often feel this
cry of
suffering as "our own" in the painful situations of life
which can
cause deep distress and give rise to worry and uncertainty.
In moments
of loneliness and bewilderment, which are not unusual
in human life, a
believer's heart can exclaim: the Lord has abandoned
me!
However, Christ's Passion and his glorification on the
tree of the
Cross offer a different key for reading these events.
On Golgotha the
Father, at the height of his Only-begotten Son's sacrifice,
does not
abandon him, but brings to completion his plan of salvation
for all
humanity. In his Passion, Death and Resurrection, we are
shown that
the last word in human existence is not death but God's
victory over
death. Divine love, manifested in its fullness in the
paschal mystery,
overcomes death and sin, which is its cause (cf. Rom 5:
12).
Christ's Death already holds the seeds of Resurrection
2. In these days of Holy Week, we enter into the heart
of God's saving
plan. The Church, especially during this Jubilee Year,
wishes to
remind everyone that Christ died for every man and woman,
because the
gift of salvation is universal. The Church shows the face
of a
crucified God, who does not frighten but communicates
only love and
mercy. One cannot be indifferent to Christ's sacrifice!
Feelings of
deep gratitude spontaneously arise in the minds of those
who pause to
contemplate the Lord's Passion. By ascending Calvary in
spirit with
him, in a certain way we can experience the light and
joy that radiate
from his Resurrection.
We relive all this, with God's help, in the Easter Triduum.
Through
the eloquence of the rites of Holy Week, the liturgy will
show us the
unbreakable continuity between the Passion and the Resurrection.
Christ's Death already holds within itself the seed of
the
Resurrection.
3. The prelude to the Easter Triduum will be the celebration
of the
Chrism Mass tomorrow morning, Holy Thursday, when priests
will gather
around their respective Pastors in diocesan cathedrals.
The oils of
the sick and of catechumens are blessed, and chrism consecrated
for
the administration of the sacraments. A rite rich in meaning,
it will
be accompanied by the equally significant renewal of priestly
commitments and promises by the priests. It is the day
of priests,
which every year prompts us, the ministers of the Church,
to
rediscover the value and meaning of our priesthood, a
gift and mystery
of love.
In the evening we will relive the institution of the Eucharist,
the
sacrament of God's infinite love for humanity. Judas betrays
Christ;
Peter, despite all his avowals, denies him; at the moment
of the
Passion, the other Apostles disappear. Few stay with him.
Yet it is to
these weak men that the Lord entrusts his testament, offering
himself
in his Body given and his Blood poured out for the life
of the world
(cf. Jn 6: 51). An unfathomable mystery of condescension
and goodness!
On Good Friday the account of the Passion will be heard
again, and we
will be invited to venerate the Cross, the extraordinary
symbol of
divine mercy. To man, so often uncertain in distinguishing
good from evil, the crucified Christ shows us the only
way to give
meaning to human life. It is the way of total acceptance
of God's will
and the generous gift of self to one's brothers and sisters.
Let us celebrate Easter with deeds as well as words
On Holy Saturday, a day of deep liturgical silence, we
will pause to
reflect on the meaning of these events. The Church will
vigilantly
watch with Mary, the Sorrowful Mother, and wait with her
for the
dawning of the Resurrection. In fact, at daybreak on the
"first day of
the week", the silence will be broken by the joyful Easter
message,
proclaimed in the festive hymn of the Exsultet during
the solemn
liturgy of the Easter Vigil. Christ's triumph over death
will move,
with the tombstone, the minds and hearts of the faithful
and flood
them with the same joy felt by Mary Magdalen, the devout
women, the
Apostles and everyone to whom the risen Christ revealed
himself on
Easter Day.
4. Dear brothers and sisters, let us open our hearts and
intensely
live this Sacred Triduum. Let us immerse ourselves in
the grace of
these holy days, and as the holy Bishop Athanasius once
urged: "Let
us also follow the Lord, that is, let us imitate him,
and thus we will
find the way to celebrate the feast not only outwardly,
but in the
most effective way, that is, not only with words but also
with deeds"
(Paschal Letters, Let. 14, 2).
With these sentiments, I wish all of you and your loved
ones a
fruitful Sacred Triduum and a joyful Easter of the Lord's
Resurrection.
To the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors the Holy
Father said:
I am pleased to welcome the many young people present
at today's
audience. I pray that your visit will be a time of particular
closeness to Christ and that you will be renewed in your
faith and
Christian witness. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims
and
visitors, especially those from Ireland, Sweden and the
United States,
I invoke the joy and peace of the risen Saviour. To all
of you, a
Happy Easter!
(©L'Osservatore Romano - 26 April 2000)