* * *
[Pope's greeting to students in St. Peter's Basilica]
[In English, he said]
Dear Friends,
I offer a cordial welcome to all of you who have come to Rome from various countries and universities to celebrate Holy Week together, and to take part in the International UNIV Congress. In this way, you will be able to benefit from moments of common prayer, cultural enrichment and a helpful exchange of the experiences gained from your association with the centres and activities of Christian formation sponsored by the Prelature of Opus Dei in your respective cities and nations.
[In Spanish, he said]
You know that with a serious personal commitment, inspired by the Gospel values, it is possible to respond adequately to the great questions of our time.
The Christian knows that there is an inseparable link between the truth, ethics and responsibility. Every authentic cultural expression contributes to form the conscience and encourage the person to better himself with the end of bettering society. In this way one feels responsible before the truth, at the service of which one must put one's own personal liberty.
This certainly has to do with a mission requiring commitment, and to fulfill it the Christian is called to follow Jesus, cultivating an intense friendship with him through prayer and contemplation.
To be friends of Christ, and to give testimony of him wherever we are, demands, furthermore, the strength to go against the grain, remembering the words of the Lord: You are in the world but not of the world (cf. John 15:19)
Do not be afraid, then, to be nonconformists when it is necessary; at your university, school and in all places.
[In Italian, he said]
Dear young people of UNIV, be leaven of hope in the world that desires to meet Jesus, often without knowing it. To better the world, make an effort above all to change yourselves through an intense sacramental life, especially through approaching the sacrament of penance, and participating assiduously in the celebration of the Eucharist.
I commend each one of you and your families to Mary, who never stopped contemplating the face of her son Jesus. I invoke over each one of you the protection of Saint Josemaría and of all the saints of your lands, while I heartily wish you a happy Easter.
[Catechesis
in Paul VI Hall]
Dear brothers and sisters
We have reached the eve of the Easter triduum. The next three days are
commonly known as 'holy' because they allow us to relive the event central to
our Redemption. They lead us to the nucleus of Christian faith: the passion,
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These three days could be considered
one single day. They make up the heart and are the key to both the liturgical
year and the life of the Church. At the end of Lent we also enter that climate
which Christ himself experienced back then in Jerusalem.
We want to rekindle in ourselves the living memory of the suffering which our
Lord endured for us and to joyously prepare ourselves for next Sunday “"the
true Passover, which the Blood of Christ has covered with glory, the Passover
on which the Church celebrates the Feast that is the origin of all feasts” as
stated in the preface for Easter in the Ambrosian rite.
Tomorrow, Holy Thursday, the Church remembers the Last Supper during which our
Lord, on the eve of his own passion and death, institutes the sacrament of the
Eucharist and that of ministerial priesthood. On that same evening, Jesus gave
us a new commandment, "mandatum novum," the commandment of brotherly love.
Tomorrow morning, before entering the Easter triduum, but very closely tied to
it, the "Messa Crismale" will take place in every diocese during which the
bishop and priests of the diocese renew their promises made at ordination.
Also, the oils used to celebrate the sacraments are blessed: the oil for the
catechumen, the oil for the sick and the holy chrism. It is one of the most
important moments in the life of every Christian diocese, which, gathered
around it's pastor, strengthens it's unity and faith in Christ, the supreme
and eternal priest.
In the evening during the "Cena Domini" Mass, we remember the Last Supper when
Christ gave himself to all of us as the food of salvation, as the drug of
immortality and the mystery of the Eucharist -- source and pinnacle of
Christian life.
Through this sacrament of salvation the Lord offered and realized for all
those who believe in him, the most intimate union possible between our lives
and his. With the humble and most expressive gesture of washing someone's
feet, we are reminded how much Christ did for his Apostles.
Washing their feet was a concrete way of exclaiming the primacy of his love, a
love that serves even to the point of giving oneself, anticipating as well the
supreme sacrifice of giving his life, which he was to do the following day on
Calvary. According to a beautiful tradition, the faithful close on Holy
Thursday for a vigil of prayer and Eucharistic adoration enabling them to
relive the agonies that Christ suffered at Gethsemane more vividly.
On Good Friday we remember the passion, crucifixion and death of Christ. On
this day the Church does not celebrate mass, but the Christian community
gathers to consider the mystery of sin and evil that oppress humanity. They
revisit, in the light of the word of God, the sufferings of Christ that atone
for this evil.
After they have listened to the retelling of the passion of Christ, the
congregation prays for all the necessities of the Church and of the world,
they pay homage to the cross and take the consecrated bread and wine kept from
the "Cena Domini" mass of the previous day.
By way of further invitation to consider the passion and death of the
Redeemer, to express their love and to enable the faithful to participate in
the suffering of Christ, Christian tradition has created popular processions
and holy representations which aim to impress ever more deeply on the souls of
the faithful a sense of having truly participated in the redemptive sacrifice
of Christ.
The Via Crucis stands out among these. Over the years it has been enriched
with many spiritual and artistic expressions linked to the sensitivities of
the various cultures.
In many countries, sanctuaries with the name “Calvary” have been born which
are accessible after a steep climb. In recalling the painful climb of the
passion, it allows the faithful to participate in Jesus' climb toward the
mount of the Cross, the mount of love offered right up to the end.
Holy Saturday is marked by a deep silence. The Churches are left undecorated
and there are no particular liturgies set aside for this day. While waiting
for the Resurrection, the faithful persevere in the wait with Mary by praying
and meditating. A day of silence is necessary to ponder the reality of human
life, the forces of evil and the enormous power of good unleashed by the
passion and resurrection of Christ.
Great importance is given during this time to participation in the sacrament
of reconciliation, indispensable for the purification of the heart and to
prepare for the celebration of Easter completely renewed. We need to undertake
this inner purification and renewal of ourselves at least once a year.
This Saturday of silence, of meditation, of
forgiveness, of reconciliation leads into the Easter Vigil, which introduces
the most important Sunday in history, the Sunday that marks the Passover of
Christ.
The Church holds vigil next to the newly blessed fire and meditates on the
great promise contained in the Old and New Testaments, of the conclusive
liberation from the ancient slavery to sin and death. In the darkness of the
night, the Easter candle is lit from the new fire as a symbol of Christ who
rises again in glory.
Christ, the light of humanity, dispels any shadows in the heart and the spirit
and illuminates all men who come into the world. Together with the lighting of
the Easter candle, the great Easter announcement reverberates throughout the
Church: Christ has truly risen, death no longer has any power over him. With
his death he defeats evil forever and makes man a gift of God's own life.
It is tradition that Christ's followers received the sacrament of baptism
during the Easter Vigil. This was to underline the participation of Christians
in the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ. The joy, the light and
the peace of Christ spread from the shining Easter night to fill the lives of
the faithful in every Christian community and reaches into every area of space
and time.
Dear brothers and sisters, during these special days let us guide our lives
definitively toward a complete and decisive adherence to the designs of our
celestial Father; let us renew our “yes” to the divine will as Jesus did with
his sacrifice on the cross. The rites suggested for Holy Thursday and Good
Friday, the rich silence of prayer of Holy Saturday and the solemn Easter
vigil provide us with the opportunity to deepen the feelings and the values of
our Christian vocation unleashed by the Paschal mystery and to strengthen it
by faithfully following Christ in all circumstances, just as he did, even to
the point of giving up our own existence to him.
Remembering the mysteries of Christ also means a willing and complete
adherence to the history of today, convinced that when we celebrate, it is
reality. Let us include in our prayers the terrible facts and situations that
afflict our brothers across the world. We know that hate, division and
violence never have the last word in historical events. These holy days
reawaken a great hope in us: Christ was crucified, yet he rose again and
conquered the world.
Love is stronger than hate, it has triumphed and we should affiliate ourselves
with this victory of love. We should therefore start again from Christ and
work together with him for a world founded on peace, justice and love.
In this commitment that involves all of us, let us allow ourselves to be
guided by Mary, who accompanied her divine son on the road to his passion and
cross, and who participated with the strength of her faith in the realization
of his plan of salvation.
With these thoughts I send you my best wishes for a happy and holy Easter to
you, your loved ones and your communities.
[Translation by Giustina Montaque]
[After his address, the Holy Father greeted the pilgrims in various languages.
In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Easter Triduum, which the Church now prepares to celebrate, invites us to
share in the mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. These days
are the heart of the liturgical year. On Holy Thursday the Church recalls the
Last Supper. At the Chrism Mass, the Bishop and his priests renew their
priestly promises and the sacramental oils are blessed. The Mass of the Lord’s
Supper commemorates Jesus’ institution of the sacrament of his Body and Blood
and his commandment that we should love one another. On Good Friday, we ponder
the mystery of sin as we listen to the account of the Lord’s passion and
venerate the wood of his Cross. Holy Saturday, a day of silence and prayer,
prepares for the joy of the Easter Vigil, when the light of Christ dispels all
darkness, and the saving power of his Paschal Mystery is communicated in the
sacrament of Baptism.
May our sharing in these solemn celebrations deepen our conversion to Christ,
particularly through the sacrament of Reconciliation, and our communion, in
the hope of the resurrection, with all our suffering brothers and sisters
throughout the world.
I offer a cordial welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors
present at today’s Audience, especially the pilgrims from Ireland, Canada and
the United States. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke an abundance
of joy and peace in the Lord!
[After his greetings, the Holy Father made the following appeal in Italian:]
I follow with deep unrest the news that in these days is coming from Tibet. My
fatherly heart feels sadness and sorrow at the suffering of so many people.
The mystery of the passion and death of Jesus, that we live again in this Holy
Week, helps us to be particularly sensitive to their situation.
With violence, problems are not solved, only aggravated. I invite you to unite
yourselves to my prayer, asking God all-powerful, source of light, to
enlighten the minds of all and give to each one the courage to choose the path
of dialogue and tolerance.