VATICAN CITY, MAR 31, 1999 (VIS) - During today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, the Pope recalled that during Holy Week "we commemorate the central events of our redemption. The core of this week is the Triduum of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection."
"Holy Week leads us to meditate on the meaning of the Cross." The Father "freely gave his Only Son to redeem humanity. How could we fail to give thanks to Him (for this)? ... Faced with the Cross, the eloquent call of God's mercy, how could we not repent of our sin and experience a conversion to love? How could we not concretely make reparation for harm caused to others and return goods acquired dishonestly? Forgiveness requires concrete gestures. Repentance is only true and efficacious when it is transformed into tangible acts of conversion and just reparation."
He noted that tomorrow, Holy Thursday, every bishop, surrounded by his priests, will preside at a Chrism Mass and will consecrate the Holy Oils. In the evening, "at the end of the Mass of the Lord's Supper ('In Cena Domini') there will be adoration. ... Good Friday is an intense day, in which the Church will have us listen once again to the narration of the Passion of Christ. The 'adoration' of the Cross will be the focus of the liturgy."
John Paul II said that until Holy Saturday evening "there will be a period of deep silence. ... This silence will be broken by the joy and light of the evocative rites of the Easter Vigil and the glorious song of the 'Alleluia'(will resound). It will be the encounter of faith with the Risen Christ, and the Easter joy will continue for the following fifty days."
"Let us prepare ourselves" he concluded, "to relive these events in prayerful union with the Blessed Virgin Mary."
AG;EASTER TRIDUUM;...;...;VIS;19990331;Word: 310;
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