Dear brothers and sisters,
We are living through the holy days which invite us to meditate on the central events of our redemption, the essential nucleus of our faith.
Tomorrow is the start of the Paschal Triduum, fulcrum of the entire liturgical year, during which we are called to silence and prayer in order to contemplate the mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord.
In their homilies, the Fathers of the Church often referred to these days which, as St. Athanasius observed in one of his Paschal Letters, introduce us "to that time of a new beginning, the day of the Holy Passover, in which the Lord immolated himself" (Lett. 5, 1-2: PG 26, 1379).
Therefore I call on you to live these days intensely so that they may decisively orient life for each one towards a generous and convinced adherence to Christ who died and resurrected for us.
Tomorrow, the Holy Mass of Chrism, the morning prelude to Maundy Thursday, will see all priests joining their bishop. In the course of a significant Eucharistic celebration, which usually takes place in the diocesan Cathedral, the oils for the sick, the catechumens and Chrism will be blessed.
Moreover, the bishop and priests will renew the priestly promises they made on their day of ordination. This gesture takes on a special significance during this Year for Priests which I decreed to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the death of the Holy Curate of Ars.
To all priests, I wish to reiterate the wish I formulated at the end of the letter proclaiming the Year for Priests: "With the example of the Holy Curate of Ars, let yourselves be conquered by Christ, that you yourselves may be, in the world today, messengers of hope, of reconciliation and of peace".
Tomorrow afternoon, we will celebrate the institution of the Eucharist. The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, confirmed the first Christians in the truth of the Eucharistic mystery, communicating to them what he himself had learned:
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." (1Cor 11,23-25).
These words manifest Christ's intention with clarity: under the species of bread and wine, He makes himself present in a real way, with the body that would give and the blood that he would shed as a sacrifice of the New Covenant.
At the same time, he constituted the Apostles and their successors as ministers of this Sacrament, which he hands to his Church as supreme proof of his love.
With an evocative ritual, we will also recall the gesture of Jesus who washed the feet of the Apostles (cfr Jn 13,1-25). This act became, for the evangelist, the representation of Jesus's entire life, revealing his love to the very end, an infinite love, which can qualify man for communion with God and make him free.
At the end of the liturgy of Maundy Thursday, the Church places the Most Blessed Sacrament in a specially prepared place which represents the solitude of Gethsemane and the mortal anguish of Jesus. Before the Sacrament, the faithful contemplate Jesus in his hour of solitude and pray that all the solitudes of the world may end.
This liturgical course is, among other things, an invitation to seek intimate communion with the Lord in prayer, to be able to recognize Jesus in all persons who are alone, to keep vigil with him, and to learn to proclaim the light of one's own life.
On Good Friday, we will commemorate the passion and death of our Lord. Jesus wished to offer his life in sacrifice for the remission of the sins of mankind, choosing for this the most cruel and humiliating death: crucifixion.
There is an inseparable connection between the Last Supper and the death of Jesus. In the first, Jesus offers his Body and his Blood - his earthly existence , his very self, anticipating his death and transforming it to an act of love.
Thus death, which by its nature is the end, the destruction of every relationship, he makes it into the act of communicating himself, the instrument of salvation and proclamation of the triumph of love.
In this way, Jesus becomes the key for understanding the Last Supper which anticipates the transformation of violent death into voluntary sacrifice, into an act of love that redeems and saves the world.
Holy Saturday is characterized by a great silence. The Churches are stripped of adornment and no particular liturgy is prescribed. In this time of waiting and hope, believers are invited to prayer, to reflection, to repentance, even through the sacrament of Reconciliation, in order to be able to take part, intimately renewed, in the celebration of Easter.
On the night of Holy Saturday, during the solemn Easter Vigil, 'mother of all vigils', this silence will be broken by singing Alleluia, which announces the resurrection of Christ and proclaims the victory of light over shadows, life over death.
The Church will rejoice in its encounter with the Lord, entering Easter Sunday which the Lord will inaugurate by resurrrecting from the dead.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us prepare ourselves to live intensely this Paschal Triduum that is imminent, in order to always be profoundly into the Mystery of Christ, who died and rose again for us.
May the Most Blessed Virgin accompany us in this spiritual itinerary. She who followed Jesus in his Passion and was present at the foot of the Cross, introduces us to the Paschal mystery so that we may experience the joy and the peace of the Resurrected Lord.
With these sentiments, I extend my most heartfelt wishes for a blessed Easter to all of you, to your communities and all those who are dear to you.