GENERAL AUDIENCE: TOMORROW EASTER TRIDIUM BEGINS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 27, 2002 (VIS) - In today's general audience, celebrated in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father recalled that tomorrow begins the Easter Tridium, "which will make us relive the central event of our salvation," Christ's passion, death and resurrection.

The institution of the priesthood and the Eucharist is commemorated on Holy Thursday, he noted. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ "wanted to remain with us, becoming our food for salvation."

The Pope affirmed that on Good Friday "we will go over the tragic moments of the Redemptor's passion till the Crucifixion at Golgotha. The veneration of the Cross will allow us to understand with more depth the infinite mercy of God. ... The way of the Cross is certainly difficult! However, only there is the Mystery of the death that gives life revealed to us."

"Holy Saturday's mood of recollection and silence will offer us the ocassion to hope, praying with Mary, for the glorious event of the Resurrection, savoring already the intimate joy."

The Pope said that on Easter Sunday "we will be able to understand and love until the end Christ's Cross which eliminated sin and death for ever."

"In the Easter Tridium, we will fix our gaze intensely on Christ's face. The suffering and agonizing face that makes us better understand the drama of the events and situations which afflict humanity also during these days."

John Paul II emphasized that "in Gethsemane we will feel a special harmony with those who sleep beneath the weight of pain and loneliness. Meditating on the treatment to which Jesus was subjected, we will remember those who are persecuted for their faith and for the cause of justice. ... In the supreme hour of the sacrifice of the Son of God, we will abandon trustingly at the feet of Christ that desire that dwells in everyone's heart: the desire for peace!"

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