Easter Triduum

On the Easter Triduum

"Today, Too, Christ Overcomes Sin and Death With His Love"

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 4, 2007 - Here is a translation of the address Benedict
XVI gave at the general audience today in St. Peter's Square. The reflection
highlighted key moments of the Easter triduum.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As the Lenten journey -- begun with Ash Wednesday -- comes to an end,
today's liturgy of Holy Wednesday already introduces us into the dramatic
atmosphere of the coming days, filled with the remembrance of the passion
and death of Christ.

In fact, in today's liturgy, the Evangelist Matthew presents for our
meditation the brief dialogue that occurred in the Upper Room between Jesus
and Judas. "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" the traitor says to the Divine
Teacher, who had prophesied: "Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray
me."

The Lord's answer was incisive: "You have said so" (cf. Matthew 26:14- 25).

St. John concludes narrating the prophecy of the betrayal with a short,
meaningful phrase: "It was night" (John 13:30).

When the traitor exits the Upper Room, darkness penetrates his heart -

- it is an internal night -- discouragement grows in the spirits of the
other disciples -- they too go toward the night -- while the shadows of
abandonment and hate grow darker around the Son of Man, who prepares himself
for the consummation of his sacrifice on the cross.

In the coming days, we will commemorate the supreme battle between Light and
Darkness, between Life and Death.

We also have to place ourselves within this context -- aware of our own
"night," of our sins and responsibilities -- if we want to spiritually
benefit again from the paschal mystery, if we want to bring light to our
hearts, by way of this mystery, which is the center point of our faith.

The beginning of the Easter triduum is Holy Thursday, tomorrow.

During the Chrism Mass, which can be considered a prelude to the triduum,
bishops of dioceses and their closest collaborators, the priests, surrounded
by the people of God, renew the promises they made on the day of their
priestly ordination.

Year after year, it is an intense moment of ecclesial communion, which
highlights the gift of the ministerial priesthood which Christ left to his
Church on the night before he died on the cross. And for each priest, it is
a moving moment in the midst of the vigil of the passion, in which the Lord
gave himself to us, gave us the sacrament of the Eucharist, and gave us the
priesthood.

It is a day that moves our hearts. Later, the holy oils used for the
sacraments are blessed: oil of catechumens, oil of the sick, and holy
chrism. In the afternoon, entering into the Easter triduum, the community
relives in the Mass "in Cena Domini" all that took place in the Last Supper.
In the Upper Room, the Redeemer wanted to anticipate, with the sacrament of
blood and wine made his body and his blood, the sacrifice of his life: He
anticipated his death, the free gift of his life, offered as the definitive
gift of himself to humanity.

With the washing of the feet, the gesture is repeated with which he, having
loved his own in this world, loved them to the end (cf. John 13:1), and left
his disciples, as a sort of trademark, this act of humility, love unto
death.

After the Mass "in Cena Domini," the liturgy invites the faithful to remain
in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, reliving Jesus' agony in Gethsemane.
And we see how the disciples slept, leaving the Lord alone.

Today as well -- frequently -- we sleep -- we, his disciples. In this holy
night of Gethsemane, we want to stay on guard; we do not want to leave the
Lord alone in this hour. And in doing this, we can better understand the
mystery of Holy Thursday, which encompasses the threefold, most-high gifts
of the ministerial priesthood, the Eucharist and the new commandment of
love, "agape."

Good Friday, which commemorates the happenings between Christ's condemnation
to death and his crucifixion, is a day of penance, of fasting, of prayer, of
participation in the passion of the Lord. At the prescribed hour, the
Christian assembly retraces, with the help of the Word of God and liturgical
actions, the history of human infidelity to the divine plan, which
nevertheless is fulfilled precisely in this way. And we listen again to the
moving narration of the sorrowful passion of the Lord.

Later, a long "prayer of the faithful" is directed to the heavenly Father,
which includes all of the needs of the Church and the world.

Then, the community adores the cross, and approaches the Eucharist,
consuming the sacred species, reserved since the Mass "in Cena Domini" from
the day before.

Commenting on Good Friday, St. John Chrysostom said: "Before, the cross
meant disdain, but today it is venerated. Before, it was a symbol of
condemnation, today it is the hope of salvation. It has truly been converted
into a fount of infinite goods; it has liberated us from error, it has
scattered our darkness, it has reconciled us with God. From being enemies of
God, it has made us his family, from foreigners it has converted us to his
neighbors: This cross is the destruction of enmity, the fount of peace, the
coffer of our treasure" ("De cruce et latrone," I, 1, 4).

To live the passion of the Redeemer more intensely, Christian tradition has
given rise to numerous manifestations of popular piety, among them, the
well-known Good Friday processions, with the evocative rites which are
repeated year after year. But there is one expression of piety, the Way of
the Cross, that offers us year-round the opportunity to impress in our
spirits ever more deeply the mystery of the cross, advancing with Christ
along this path and thus, interiorly conforming ourselves to him.

We could say that the Way of the Cross teaches us, using an expression from
St. Leo the Great, to "fix the eyes of our heart on Christ crucified and
recognize in him our own humanity" (Sermon 15 on the Passion of the Lord).
In this consists the true wisdom of Christianity, that we wish to learn with
the Way of the Cross on Good Friday in the Colosseum.

Holy Saturday is a day in which the liturgy is hushed, the day of great
silence, which invites Christians to foster an interior recollection, often
difficult to maintain in our day, so as to prepare us for the Easter Vigil.
In many communities, spiritual retreats and Marian prayer meetings are
organized on this day, in union with the Mother of the Redeemer, who awaits
the resurrection of the crucified Son with anxious confidence.

Finally, in the Easter Vigil, the veil of sadness, which surrounds the
Church during the death and burial of the Lord, will be torn in two by the
victorious cry: Christ has risen and has overcome death forever! Then we can
truly understand the mystery of the cross and, as an ancient author writes:
"As God creates wonders even from the impossible, so that we will know that
only he can do as he wishes:

From his death proceeds our life; from his wounds, our healing; from his
fall, our resurrection, from his descent, our rising up"

(Anonymous 14th).

Animated by a stronger faith, at the heart of the Easter Vigil, we welcome
the newly baptized and renew our own baptismal promises.

Thus, we will experience that the Church is always alive, always renewing
itself, always beautiful and holy, because its foundation is Christ, who,
having risen, will never die again.

Dear brothers and sisters, the paschal mystery, which the holy triduum
allows us to relive, is not only a memory of a past reality.

It is a current reality: Today, too, Christ overcomes sin and death with his
love. Evil, in all of its forms, does not have the final word. The final
triumph belongs to Christ, to truth, to love!

If we, with him, are willing to suffer and die, as St. Paul reminds us in
the Easter Vigil, his life will become our life (cf. Romans 6:9). Our
Christian existence is based on and grows from this certainty.

Invoking the intercession of Holy Mary, who followed Jesus on the path of
the passion and the cross, and who embraced him when he was taken down from
the cross, I hope that all of you will participate fervently in the Easter
triduum, and will experience the joy of Easter with all of your loved ones.

[Translation by ZENIT]

[After the audience, the Pope greeted the people in several languages. In
English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we approach the end of Lent and the commemoration of Christ's passion,
death and resurrection, the Church's liturgy invites us to contemplate the
mystery of the Cross, to acknowledge our sinfulness and, in faith, to unite
ourselves with Jesus in his saving passover from death to life. Holy
Thursday, with its celebration of the Chrism Mass and the Mass of the Lord's
Supper, evokes gratitude for Christ's institution of the sacraments of the
Eucharist and Holy Orders, and for his new commandment of love. Good Friday
is centred on the Gospel of the Lord's Passion and the adoration of his Holy
Cross, the source of our salvation. The somber silence of Holy Saturday is a
prelude to the joy of the Easter Vigil, with its proclamation of Christ's
victory over sin and death, the gift of his grace in the sacrament of
Baptism and the renewal of our baptismal promises. These liturgical
celebrations are not mere commemorations of past events; they introduce us
to the ever-present reality of God's saving power. Today too, Christ's love
triumphs over evil, sin and death. Truly, as Saint Paul says, "if we have
died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" (Rom 6:8).

I am pleased to welcome the many university students gathered in Rome for
Univ 2007. May these days of reflection, friendship and prayer inspire in
you a deeper love for our Lord and his Church! To all the English-speaking
visitors present at today's Audience, especially those from England,
Ireland, Denmark, Australia, Canada and the United States, I offer my
prayerful good wishes for a happy and spiritually enriching celebration of
Easter.

Good Easter to all of you!

C Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana