Catholic World News - April 01, 2015
Pope Francis reflected on the Paschal Triduum during his April 1 general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
The washing of the feet at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday reminds Christians that the “purpose of [Christ’s] life and passion is to serve God and neighbor, a service which we are called to imitate by loving one another as he loved us,” the Pope said.
Pondering Christ’s words on the cross (“it is finished”), the Pope said that “that with his sacrifice Jesus has transformed the greatest injustice into the greatest love.”
Pope Francis then recalled the witness of countless men and women who have borne witness to Christ’s love, including contemporary martyrs. The Pontiff recalled the example of Father Antonio Santoro, an Italian missionary who was murdered while kneeling in prayer at his parish in Turkey in 2006.
The Pope quoted words written by Father Santoro in the days before his murder: “I am here to live among the people and to allow Jesus to be here, lending him my flesh … One becomes capable of salvation only when offering one’s flesh. The evils of the world must be carried and shared, one must allow them be absorbed into one’s flesh, as Jesus did.”
Turning to Easter, the Pope compared the light of the Easter Vigil to Christ’s work in the darkness of our own lives.
“At times the darkness of the night seems to penetrate into our souls … [and] we think ‘there is nothing left to do,’ and our heart seems to have lost the strength to love,” said the Pope. Then “Christ lights up the fire of God’s love: a flash of light breaks the darkness and announces a new beginning.”
“Our life does not end before a tombstone; our life continues with the hope of Christ who arose from the tomb,” Pope Francis added.