EASTER: CERTAINTY THAT EVIL DOES NOT HAVE THE LAST WORD

VATICAN CITY, APR 12, 2006 (VIS) - Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis at today's general audience to the Easter Triduum. "Through the sacred rites," he told the 40,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, "we relive the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord, reawakening the desire to follow Jesus more closely."

  He went on to explain how: "Holy Thursday commemorates Christ's total giving of Himself to humanity in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Through the washing of feet, it also recalls in a dramatic way the new commandment to love one another. The day concludes with Eucharistic adoration in memory of Our Lord's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.

  "On Good Friday, we listen to the account of the Passion and contemplate Christ on the Cross. This is love in its most radical form: God gives His very self, in order to raise us up and save us. During Holy Saturday the Church is spiritually united with Mary, praying by the tomb of the Son of God who lies at rest after completing His work of redemption. Then, at the solemn Easter Vigil, the joyful Gloria and Easter Alleluia rise forth from the hearts of the whole Christian community, because Christ is risen and has defeated death!"

  The Pope also called on those present to prepare themselves for Easter through the Sacrament of Confession. "We know we are sinners," he said, "but we trust in divine mercy. Let us be reconciled with Christ in order to enjoy more intensely the joy He communicates to us with His resurrection. His forgiveness, which is given to us in the Sacrament of Penance, is the source of interior and exterior peace and makes us apostles of peace in a world still marked, alas, by divisions and suffering, and by the drama of injustice, hatred, violence and the incapacity to achieve reconciliation and begin again in sincere forgiveness."

  The celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ, said Benedict XVI, "gives us the certainty that evil does not have the last word; supported by this certain knowledge we can commit ourselves with greater courage and enthusiasm to creating a fairer world."
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