VATICAN CITY, 22 MAR 2008 (VIS) - At 9 o'clock this evening in St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope presided at the solemn Easter vigil during which he administered the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation to a number of catechumens from various countries.
The celebration began in the atrium of the basilica where the Holy Father blessed the new fire and lighted the Easter candle. This was followed by the procession towards the altar with the singing of the "Exultet." Then came the Liturgy of the Word and the Baptismal and Eucharistic Liturgies which the Holy Father concelebrated with cardinals.
In his homily, the Pope recalled the words with which Jesus announced to the disciples His forthcoming death and resurrection: "'I go away, and I will come to you'. ... Dying is a 'going away'", he said. "Yet in Jesus' case, there is something utterly new, which changes the world. ... It is by going away that He comes. His going ushers in a completely new and greater way of being present. By dying He enters into the love of the Father. His dying is an act of love. Love, however, is immortal. Therefore, His going away is transformed into a new coming, into a form of presence which reaches deeper and does not come to an end".
"Jesus, Who is now totally transformed through the act of love, is free from ... barriers and limits. He is able not only to pass through closed doors in the outside world" but also "through the interior door separating the 'I' from the 'you', the closed door between yesterday and today, between the past and the future. ... His going away is transformed into a coming, in the Risen Lord's universal manner of presence, in which He is there yesterday, today and forever, in which He embraces all times and all places. Now He can even surmount the wall of otherness that separates the 'I' from the 'you'".
"The mysterious words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper become present for you once more", the Holy Father told his audience. "In Baptism, the Lord enters your life through the door of your heart. We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another. He passes through all these doors. This is the reality of Baptism: He, the Risen One, comes; He comes to you and joins His life with yours, drawing you into the open fire of His love. You become one, one with Him, and thus one among yourselves".
"Believers, the baptised, are never truly cut off from one another. Continents, cultures, social structures or even historical distances may separate us. But when we meet, we know one another on the basis of the same Lord, the same faith, the same hope, the same love, which form us. Then we experience that the foundation of our lives is the same. We experience that in our inmost depths we are anchored in the same identity, on the basis of which all our outward differences, however great they may be, become secondary".
"The Church expresses the inner reality of Baptism as the gift of a new identity through the tangible elements used in the administration of the Sacrament" said Pope Benedict, explaining that the fundamental symbols in Baptism are water and light. Going on to comment on the readings of the Easter vigil, he noted how "Jesus appears as the new, definitive Shepherd who brings to fulfilment what Moses had done: He leads us out of the deadly waters of the sea, out of the waters of death. ... In Baptism He takes us, as it were, by the hand, He leads us along the path that passes through the Red Sea of this life and introduces us to everlasting life, the true and upright life".
"In the second place", he went on, "there is the symbol of light and fire". ... Jesus Christ truly took light from heaven and brought it to the earth - the light of truth and the fire of love that transform man's being. He brought the light, and now we know who God is and what God is like. Thus we also know what our own situation is: what we are, and for what purpose we exist. When we are baptised, the fire of this light is brought down deep within ourselves. Thus, in the early Church, Baptism was also called the Sacrament of Illumination".
The Holy Father concluded his homily by recalling that the early Church had a custom whereby "the bishop or the priest, after the homily, would cry out to the faithful: 'Conversi ad Dominum' - turn now towards the Lord. This meant in the first place that they would turn towards the east, towards the rising sun, the sign of Christ returning. ... Linked with this was the other exclamation that still today, before the Eucharistic prayer, is addressed to the community of the faithful: 'Sursum corda' - Lift up your hearts, high above the tangled web of our concerns, desires, anxieties and thoughtlessness - 'Lift up your hearts, your inner selves!'
"In both exclamations", the Holy Father added in conclusion, "we are summoned, as it were, to a renewal of our Baptism. ... We must turn ever anew towards Him Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must be converted ever anew, turning with our whole life towards the Lord. And ever anew we must allow our hearts to be withdrawn from the force of gravity, which pulls them down, and inwardly we must raise them high: in truth and love".
BXVI-HOLY WEEK/EASTER SATURDAY/... VIS 20080326 (950)
The celebration began in the atrium of the basilica where the Holy Father blessed the new fire and lighted the Easter candle. This was followed by the procession towards the altar with the singing of the "Exultet." Then came the Liturgy of the Word and the Baptismal and Eucharistic Liturgies which the Holy Father concelebrated with cardinals.
In his homily, the Pope recalled the words with which Jesus announced to the disciples His forthcoming death and resurrection: "'I go away, and I will come to you'. ... Dying is a 'going away'", he said. "Yet in Jesus' case, there is something utterly new, which changes the world. ... It is by going away that He comes. His going ushers in a completely new and greater way of being present. By dying He enters into the love of the Father. His dying is an act of love. Love, however, is immortal. Therefore, His going away is transformed into a new coming, into a form of presence which reaches deeper and does not come to an end".
"Jesus, Who is now totally transformed through the act of love, is free from ... barriers and limits. He is able not only to pass through closed doors in the outside world" but also "through the interior door separating the 'I' from the 'you', the closed door between yesterday and today, between the past and the future. ... His going away is transformed into a coming, in the Risen Lord's universal manner of presence, in which He is there yesterday, today and forever, in which He embraces all times and all places. Now He can even surmount the wall of otherness that separates the 'I' from the 'you'".
"The mysterious words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper become present for you once more", the Holy Father told his audience. "In Baptism, the Lord enters your life through the door of your heart. We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another. He passes through all these doors. This is the reality of Baptism: He, the Risen One, comes; He comes to you and joins His life with yours, drawing you into the open fire of His love. You become one, one with Him, and thus one among yourselves".
"Believers, the baptised, are never truly cut off from one another. Continents, cultures, social structures or even historical distances may separate us. But when we meet, we know one another on the basis of the same Lord, the same faith, the same hope, the same love, which form us. Then we experience that the foundation of our lives is the same. We experience that in our inmost depths we are anchored in the same identity, on the basis of which all our outward differences, however great they may be, become secondary".
"The Church expresses the inner reality of Baptism as the gift of a new identity through the tangible elements used in the administration of the Sacrament" said Pope Benedict, explaining that the fundamental symbols in Baptism are water and light. Going on to comment on the readings of the Easter vigil, he noted how "Jesus appears as the new, definitive Shepherd who brings to fulfilment what Moses had done: He leads us out of the deadly waters of the sea, out of the waters of death. ... In Baptism He takes us, as it were, by the hand, He leads us along the path that passes through the Red Sea of this life and introduces us to everlasting life, the true and upright life".
"In the second place", he went on, "there is the symbol of light and fire". ... Jesus Christ truly took light from heaven and brought it to the earth - the light of truth and the fire of love that transform man's being. He brought the light, and now we know who God is and what God is like. Thus we also know what our own situation is: what we are, and for what purpose we exist. When we are baptised, the fire of this light is brought down deep within ourselves. Thus, in the early Church, Baptism was also called the Sacrament of Illumination".
The Holy Father concluded his homily by recalling that the early Church had a custom whereby "the bishop or the priest, after the homily, would cry out to the faithful: 'Conversi ad Dominum' - turn now towards the Lord. This meant in the first place that they would turn towards the east, towards the rising sun, the sign of Christ returning. ... Linked with this was the other exclamation that still today, before the Eucharistic prayer, is addressed to the community of the faithful: 'Sursum corda' - Lift up your hearts, high above the tangled web of our concerns, desires, anxieties and thoughtlessness - 'Lift up your hearts, your inner selves!'
"In both exclamations", the Holy Father added in conclusion, "we are summoned, as it were, to a renewal of our Baptism. ... We must turn ever anew towards Him Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must be converted ever anew, turning with our whole life towards the Lord. And ever anew we must allow our hearts to be withdrawn from the force of gravity, which pulls them down, and inwardly we must raise them high: in truth and love".
BXVI-HOLY WEEK/EASTER SATURDAY/... VIS 20080326 (950)
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