Easter Triduum marks "supreme confrontation"

From CWN.com:

At his regular weekly public audience on April 4, Pope Benedict XVI looked forward to the Easter Triduum, saying that the liturgical events of the coming days enact "the supreme confrontation between light and darkness, between life and death."

The Easter Triduum, the Holy Father said, "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."

Speaking about each liturgical event in turn, the Pope said that the Chrism Mass and the Mass of the Lord's Supper-- both celebrated on Holy Thursday-- encourage the faithful to recognize "the supreme triple gift of priestly ministry, the Eucharist, and the new commandment of love."

Good Friday, he continued, is a day of solemn fasting, penance, and prayer, with the Way of the Cross giving the faithful an opportunity "to imprint the mystery of the Cross ever more deeply on our hearts."

Holy Saturday should be a day of "interior meditation," the Pope said-- acknowledging that this is a challenge as the faithful prepare for the Easter celebration. Then at the Easter Vigil, "the veil of sadness shrouding the Church… with be shattered by the cry of victory."

In the Easter Triduum, the Pope said with emphasis, the Church relives "not just a memory but a current reality." Christ is triumphant over sin and death today, the Pope said. "It is upon this certainty that our Christian lives are built."

Before ending the Wednesday audience, Pope Benedict acknowledged the presence of many students who have gathered in Rome in for the annual UNIV conference sponsored by Opus Dei. Citing the words of St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of the lay movement, he said: "I really wish we Christians knew how to serve, for only by serving can we know and love Christ and make Him known and loved."

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