BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

April 3, Holy Saturday

Greek Orthodox icons: From left, Jesus is prepared for burial, with the Magdalene, the Virgin Mary, the Apostle John and Joseph of Arimathea; other icons show Jesus's descent to Hades. Holy Saturday is celebrated with elaborate rituals in the Orthodox Church.

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Let us return once more to the night of Holy Saturday. In the Creed we say about Christ’s journey that he “descended into hell.” What happened then?

Since we have no knowledge of the world of death, we can only imagine his triumph over death with the help of images which remain very inadequate.

Yet, inadequate as they are, they can help us to understand something of the mystery. The liturgy applies to Jesus’ descent into the night of death the words of Psalm 23[24]: “Lift up your heads, O gates; be lifted up, O ancient doors!”

The gates of death are closed, no one can return from there. There is no key for those iron doors. But Christ has the key. His Cross opens wide the gates of death, the stern doors. They are barred no longer. His Cross, his radical love, is the key that opens them. The love of the One who, though God, became man in order to die – this love has the power to open those doors. This love is stronger than death.

The Easter icons of the Oriental Church show how Christ enters the world of the dead. He is clothed with light, for God is light. “The night is bright as the day, the darkness is as light” (cf. Ps 138[139]12).

- Benedict XVI, Easter Vigil homily, 2007

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OR today.


At the Mass of the Last Supper, Benedict XVI tells the clergy that
'Christ's priestly prayer is an examination of conscience for the Church'
Other Page 1 stories: French intellectuals launch a support movement for the victims of child abuse and Benedict XVI, calling on the mass media to exercise an ethic of responsibility; Israel makes seven raids into the Gaza Strip to retaliate the Hamas killing of two Israeli soldiers; Father Cantalamessa's Good Friday homily; and in the inside pages, more bishops express their support for Benedict XVI, including Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. [NB: Because of a 3 p.m. press deadline for the next day's issue, the OR is unable to report events that take place after 3 p.m. in the next
day's issue. Fr. Cantalamessa's homily made it because it was a prepared text.]

THE POPE'S DAY

Starting at 9 p.m., Easter Vigil and Mass at St. Peter's Basilica.



Today is also the feast day of
ST. BENEDETTO IL MORO (Benedict the Moor) (b N Africa, 1526, d Sicily, 1589), Franciscan

Second from right, a fresco showing angels helping the saint in the kitchen, in the Palermo church where he is enshrined; extreme right, the saint's remains.
The son of Ethiopian slaves, he and his family were taken to Messina, where he was freed at age 18. He joined some hermits near Palermo, but since they
followed the Rule of St. Francis, Pope Pius IV ordered them to formally join the order. A lay brother, he began as cook in the friary in Palermo but later
became novice master and then its superior. Although he was uneducated, his understanding of theology and of Holy Scriptures was considered remarkable.
He also had healing powers. He developed a reputation for holiness and attracted such a following he could only go out at night, well-covered, to avoid
recognition and people trying to tear pieces off his garments. In the last years of his life, he asked to serve once again as friary cook. His cult was immediate
after his death, and today, he is particularly venerated in Brazil. He is considered the patron saint of black Americans. He was canonized in 1807. His incorrupt
body lies in Church of the friary where he served in Palermo.