Palm Sunday 2011 & the 26th World Youth Day
XXVI World Youth Day was celebrated with Pope Benedict XVI on Palm Sunday in St Peter's Square and internationally in August in Madrid, Spain.
XXVI WYD/JMJ Message: “Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (cf Col 2, 7)
Papa Benedict XVI's Homily at Mass on Palm Sunday
St Peter's Square, Sunday, 17 April 2011 - in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish
"Dear brothers and sisters, Dear young people!
It is a moving experience each year on Palm Sunday as we go up the mountain with Jesus, towards the Temple, accompanying him on his ascent. On this day, throughout the world and across the centuries, young people and people of every age acclaim him, crying out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
But what are we really doing when we join this procession as part of the throng which went up with Jesus to Jerusalem and hailed Him as King of Israel? Is this anything more than a ritual, a quaint custom? Does it have anything to do with the reality of our life and our world? To answer this, we must first be clear about what Jesus Himself wished to do and actually did. After Peter’s confession of faith in Caesarea Philippi, in the northernmost part of the Holy Land, Jesus set out as a pilgrim towards Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. He was journeying towards the Temple in the Holy City, towards that place which for Israel ensured in a particular way God’s closeness to his people. He was making his way towards the common feast of Passover, the memorial of Israel’s liberation from Egypt and the sign of its hope of definitive liberation. He knew that what awaited Him was a new Passover and that He Himself would take the place of the sacrificial lambs by offering Himself on the cross. He knew that in the mysterious gifts of bread and wine He would give Himself for ever to his own, and that He would open to them the door to a new path of liberation, to fellowship with the living God. He was making his way to the heights of the Cross, to the moment of self-giving love. The ultimate goal of his pilgrimage was the heights of God Himself; to those heights He wanted to lift every human being.
Our procession today is meant, then, to be an image of something deeper, to reflect the fact that, together with Jesus, we are setting out on pilgrimage along the high road that leads to the living God. This is the ascent that matters. This is the journey which Jesus invites us to make. But how can we keep pace with this ascent? Isn’t it beyond our ability? Certainly, it is beyond our own possibilities. From the beginning men have been filled – and this is as true today as ever – with a desire to “be like God”, to attain the heights of God by their own powers. All the inventions of the human spirit are ultimately an effort to gain wings so as to rise to the heights of Being and to become independent, completely free, as God is free. Mankind has managed to accomplish so many things: we can fly! We can see, hear and speak to one another from the farthest ends of the earth. And yet the force of gravity which draws us down is powerful. With the increase of our abilities there has been an increase not only of good. Our possibilities for evil have increased and appear like menacing storms above history. Our limitations have also remained: we need but think of the disasters in recent months which have caused so much suffering for humanity.
The Fathers of the Church maintained that human beings stand at the point of intersection between two gravitational fields. First, there is the force of gravity which pulls us down – towards selfishness, falsehood and evil; the gravity which diminishes us and distances us from the heights of God. On the other hand there is the gravitational force of God’s love: the fact that we are loved by God and respond in love attracts us upwards. Man finds himself betwixt this twofold gravitational force; everything depends on our escaping the gravitational field of evil and becoming free to be attracted completely by the gravitational force of God, which makes us authentic, elevates us and grants us true freedom.
Following the Liturgy of the Word, at the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer where the Lord comes into our midst, the Church invites us to lift up our hearts: “Sursum corda!” In the language of the Bible and the thinking of the Fathers, the heart is the centre of man, where understanding, will and feeling, body and soul, all come together. The centre where spirit becomes body and body becomes spirit, where will, feeling and understanding become one in the knowledge and love of God. This is the “heart” which must be lifted up. But to repeat: of ourselves, we are too weak to lift up our hearts to the heights of God. We cannot do it. The very pride of thinking that we are able to do it on our own drags us down and estranges us from God. God Himself must draw us up, and this is what Christ began to do on the cross. He descended to the depths of our human existence in order to draw us up to Himself, to the living God. He humbled himself, as today’s second reading says. Only in this way could our pride be vanquished: God’s humility is the extreme form of his love, and this humble love draws us upwards.
Psalm 24, which the Church proposes as the “song of ascent” to accompany our procession in today’s liturgy, indicates some concrete elements which are part of our ascent and without which we cannot be lifted upwards: clean hands, a pure heart, the rejection of falsehood, the quest for God’s face. The great achievements of technology are liberating and contribute to the progress of mankind only if they are joined to these attitudes – if our hands become clean and our hearts pure, if we seek truth, if we seek God and let ourselves be touched and challenged by his love. All these means of “ascent” are effective only if we humbly acknowledge that we need to be lifted up; if we abandon the pride of wanting to become God. We need God: he draws us upwards; letting ourselves be upheld by his hands – by faith, in other words – sets us aright and gives us the inner strength that raises us on high. We need the humility of a faith which seeks the face of God and trusts in the truth of his love.
The question of how man can attain the heights, becoming completely himself and completely like God, has always engaged mankind. It was passionately disputed by the Platonic philosophers of the 3rd and 4th centuries. For them, the central issue was finding the means of purification which could free man from the heavy load weighing him down and thus enable him to ascend to the heights of his true being, to the heights of divinity. Saint Augustine, in his search for the right path, long sought guidance from those philosophies. But in the end he had to acknowledge that their answers were insufficient, their methods would not truly lead him to God. To those philosophers he said: recognize that human power and all these purifications are not enough to bring man in truth to the heights of the divine, to his own heights. And he added that he should have despaired of himself and human existence had he not found the One who accomplishes what we of ourselves cannot accomplish; the One who raises us up to the heights of God in spite of our wretchedness: Jesus Christ who from God came down to us and, in his crucified love, takes us by the hand and lifts us on high.
We are on pilgrimage with the Lord to the heights. We are striving for pure hearts and clean hands, we are seeking truth, we are seeking the face of God. Let us show the Lord that we desire to be righteous, and let us ask him: Draw us upwards! Make us pure! Grant that the words which we sang in the processional psalm may also hold true for us; grant that we may be part of the generation which seeks God, “which seeks your face, O God of Jacob” (cf Ps 24:6). Amen."
Papa Benedetto's words at the Angelus in St Peter's Square
Palm Sunday, 17th April 2011 - also in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish
"Je salue avec joie les pèlerins francophones. En suivant Jésus qui s’avance vers sa Passion et sa Résurrection, accueillons son enseignement au cœur de nos vies. Puisse sa lumière éclairer nos jugements et nos choix! Chers jeunes, demeurez enracinés dans le Christ et fermes dans la foi! Ainsi, vous serez les témoins joyeux et inlassables de l’amour infini de Dieu pour nous aujourd’hui. Que la Vierge Marie nous accompagne dans notre montée vers Pâques !
I welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors here in Rome this Palm Sunday, as the whole Church sings “Hosanna” to the Son of David, commemorating Our Lord’s solemn entry into Jerusalem in the days leading up to his Passion and death. In a special way I greet all the young people present and I look forward to celebrating World Youth Day in Madrid this summer with many thousands of others from around the world.
Von Herzen grüße ich alle Pilger und Besucher deutscher Sprache. In der Liturgie des Palmsonntags folgt auf den Jubelruf „Hosanna“ beim Einzug des Herrn in Jerusalem kurz darauf das Geschrei des „Kreuzige ihn“ im Leidensbericht. Beide Haltungen liegen nahe beisammen und machen die Unbeständigkeit des menschlichen Herzens sichtbar. Bitten wir den Herrn in dieser Heiligen Woche, daß er uns in der Treue zu ihm bewahre. Dazu möge er uns die Gnade schenken, die aus seinem Tod und seiner Auferstehung kommt. Euch allen wünsche ich eine gesegnete Karwoche!
Saludo con afecto a los peregrinos de lengua española y los animo a vivir las celebraciones de la pasión del Rey de la Gloria, para alcanzar la plenitud de lo que estas fiestas significan y contienen. Me dirijo ahora en particular a vosotros, queridos jóvenes, para que me acompañéis en la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud, que tendrá lugar en Madrid el próximo mes de agosto, bajo el lema: “Arraigados y edificados en Cristo, firmes en la fe”.
Hoy pienso también en Colombia, donde el próximo Viernes Santo se celebra la Jornada de Oración por las Víctimas de la Violencia. Me uno espiritualmente a esta importante iniciativa y exhorto encarecidamente a los colombianos a participar en ella, al mismo tiempo que pido a Dios por cuantos en esa amada Nación han sido despojados vilmente de su vida y sus haberes. Renuevo mi urgente llamado a la conversión, al arrepentimiento y a la reconciliación. ¡No más violencia en Colombia, que reine en ella la paz!
Uma saudação amiga para os jovens e demais peregrinos de língua portuguesa, com votos de uma Semana Santa rica de frutos espirituais, vivendo-a unidos à Virgem Maria para aprender d’Ela a escutar Deus no silêncio interior, a olhar os outros com o coração puro e a seguir Jesus, com fé amorosa, pelo caminho do calvário que conduz à alegria da ressurreição. Até Madrid, se Deus quiser!
Serdeczne pozdrowienie kieruję do pielgrzymów z Polski, szczególnie do młodych, którzy przygotowują się do światowego spotkania w Madrycie. Pozwólcie, że dziś, w niedzielę Męki Pańskiej, powtórzę słowa z przesłania na ten dzień: Krzyż « jest Bożym „tak” dla człowieka, najwyższym wyrazem miłości i źródłem, z którego wypływa życie wieczne. (...) Mogę zatem jedynie ponaglić Was, byście przyjęli Krzyż Jezusa, znak Bożej miłości, jako źródło nowego życia». Niech Bóg wam błogosławi!
Saluto infine con affetto i pellegrini di lingua italiana, specialmente i giovani, ai quali do appuntamento a Madrid, per la Giornata Mondiale della Gioventù, nel prossimo mese di agosto.
Ed ora ci rivolgiamo in preghiera a Maria, affinché ci aiuti a vivere con fede intensa la Settimana Santa. Anche Maria esultò nello spirito quando Gesù fece il suo ingresso regale in Gerusalemme, compiendo le profezie; ma il suo cuore, come quello del Figlio, era pronto al Sacrificio. Impariamo da Lei, Vergine fedele, a seguire il Signore anche quando la sua via porta alla croce.
Angelus Domini…"
Catechesis by Pope Benedict XVI on the Easter Triduum
General Audience, Wednesday 20th April 2011 - also in French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish
"Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We have now arrived at the heart of Holy Week, the culmination of the Lenten journey. Tomorrow we shall enter the Easter Triduum, the three holy days in which the Church commemorates the mystery of the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus. The Son of God, who, after becoming man in obedience to the Father, similar to us in all things save sin (cf. Heb 4:15), accepted to do the Father’s will to the very end. He accepted the Passion and the Cross out of love for us, to enable us to share in his Resurrection so that, in him and for him, we might live for ever in consolation and in peace. I therefore urge you to accept this mystery of salvation and to participate intensely in the Easter Triduum, the fulcrum of the entire Liturgical Year and a time of special grace for every Christian. I invite you in these days to seek recollection and prayer, so as to draw more deeply from this source of grace. In this regard, with a view to the forthcoming celebrations every Christian is asked to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation, a moment of special adherence to the death and Resurrection of Christ, to be able to participate more fruitfully in Holy Easter.
Holy Thursday is the day on which the Institution of the Eucharist and of the Ministerial Priesthood is commemorated. In the morning each diocesan community, gathered round its bishop in the cathedral church, celebrates the Chrism Mass in which the sacred Chrism, the Oil of the Catechumens and the Oil of the Sick are blessed. Starting with the Easter Triduum and throughout the liturgical year these oils will be used for the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, priestly and episcopal Ordination and the Anointing of the Sick. This emphasizes that salvation, transmitted by the sacramental signs, flows from the very heart of the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Indeed, we are redeemed by his death and Resurrection and, through the sacraments, we draw on that same salvific source. The priestly promises will also be renewed at the Chrism Mass tomorrow. Throughout the world, every priest renews the commitment he made on the day of his Ordination to be totally consecrated to Christ in exercising his sacred ministry at the service of his brethren. Let us accompany our priests with our prayers.
In the afternoon of Holy Thursday, the Triduum effectively begins with the commemoration of the Last Supper, at which Jesus instituted the Memorial of his Passover, complying with the Jewish Easter rite. In accordance with the tradition, every Jewish family, gathered at table on the feast of the Passover, eats roast lamb, commemorating the liberation of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt; thus in the Upper Room, knowing of his imminent death, Jesus, the true Paschal Lamb, offered himself for our salvation (cf. 1 Cor 5:7). In pronouncing the blessing over the bread and the wine, he anticipated the sacrifice of the Cross and expressed the intention of perpetuating his presence among the disciples. Under the species of the bread and the wine, he made himself present in a real way with his Body given and his Blood poured out. At the Last Supper, the Apostles were constituted ministers of this Sacrament of salvation; Jesus washed their feet (cf. Jn 13:1-25), inviting them to love one another as he had loved them, giving his life for them. In repeating this gesture in the Liturgy, we too are called to witness effectively to the love of our Redeemer.
Lastly, Holy Thursday ends with Eucharistic Adoration, in memory of the Lord’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Having left the Upper Room he withdrew to pray, alone before the Father. At that moment of deep communion the Gospels recount that Jesus experienced great anguish, such acute suffering that it made him sweat blood (cf. Mt 26:38). In the knowledge of his imminent death on the Cross, he felt immense anguish at the closeness of death. In this situation an element appeared that was of great importance to the whole Church. Jesus said to his followers: stay here and keep watch; and this appeal for vigilance concerns precisely this moment of anguish, of threats, in which the traitor was to arrive, but it concerns the whole history of the Church. It is a permanent message for every era because the disciples’ drowsiness was not just a problem at that moment but is a problem for the whole of history. The question is: in what does this apathy consist? What would the watchfulness to which the Lord invites us consist of? I would say that the disciples’ somnolence in the course of history is a certain insensitiveness of the soul with regard to the power of evil, an insensibility to all the evil in the world. We do not wish to be unduly disturbed by these things, we prefer to forget them. We think that perhaps, after all, it will not be so serious and we forget. Moreover, it is not only insensibility to evil, when we should be watchful in order to do good, to fight for the force of goodness. Rather it is an insensibility to God: this is our true sleepiness, this insensibility to God’s presence that also makes us insensible to evil. We are not aware of God — he would disturb us — hence we are naturally not aware of the force of evil and continue on the path of our own convenience. Nocturnal adoration of Holy Thursday, watching with the Lord, must be the very moment to make us reflect on the somnolence of the disciples, of the defenders of Jesus, of the Apostles, of us who do not see, who do not wish to see the whole force of evil nor do we wish to enter his passion for goodness, for the presence of God in the world, for the love of our neighbour and of God.
Then the Lord began to pray. The three Apostles — Peter, James and John — were asleep but they awoke intermittently and heard the refrain of this prayer of the Lord: “not my will, but your will be done”. What is this will of mine, what is this will of yours of which the Lord speaks? My will is “that he should not die”, that he be spared this cup of suffering: it is the human will, human nature, and Christ felt, with the whole awareness of his being, life, the abyss of death, the terror of nothingness, the threat of suffering. Moreover, he was even more acutely aware of the abyss of evil than are we who have a natural aversion to death, a natural fear of death. Together with death, he felt the whole of humanity’s suffering. He felt that this was the cup he was obliged to drink, that he himself had to drink in order to accept the evil of the world, all that is terrible, the aversion to God, the whole weight of sin. And we can understand that before this reality, the cruelty of which he fully perceived, Jesus, with his human soul, was terrified: my will would be not to drink the cup, but my will is subordinate to your will, to the will of God, to the will of the Father, which is also the true will of the Son. And thus in this prayer Jesus transformed his natural repugnance, his aversion to the cup and to his mission to die for us; he transformed his own natural will into God’s will, into a “yes” to God’s will. Man of himself is tempted to oppose God’s will, to seek to do his own will, to feel free only if he is autonomous; he sets his own autonomy against the heteronomy of obeying God’s will. This is the whole drama of humanity. But in truth, this autonomy is mistaken and entry into God’s will is not opposition to the self, it is not a form of slavery that violates my will but rather means entering into truth and love, into goodness. And Jesus draws our will — which opposes God’s will, which seeks autonomy — upwards, towards God’s will. This is the drama of our redemption, that Jesus should uplift our will, our total aversion to God’s will and our aversion to death and sin and unite it with the Father’s will: “Not my will but yours”. In this transformation of “no” into “yes”, in this insertion of the creatural will into the will of the Father, he transforms humanity and redeems us. And he invites us to be part of his movement: to emerge from our “no” and to enter into the “yes” of the Son. My will exists, but the will of the Father is crucial because it is truth and love.
Another element of this prayer seems to me to be important. The three witnesses preserved — as appears in Sacred Scripture — the Hebrew or Aramaic word with which the Lord spoke to the Father, he called him: “Abba”, Father. But this term “Abba” is a familiar form of the term “father”, a form used only in the family that was never applied to God. Here we have a glimpse of Jesus’ intimate life, of the way he spoke in the family, the way he truly spoke as the Son with the Father. We see the Trinitarian mystery: the Son speaks to the Father and redeems humanity.
A further observation: the Letter to the Hebrews gave us a profound interpretation of this prayer of the Lord, of this drama of Gethsemane. It says: Jesus’ tears, his prayer, his cry, his anguish, all this is not merely a concession to the weakness of the flesh as might be said. It is in this very way that Jesus fulfilled his office as High Priest, because the High Priest must uplift the human being, with all his problems and suffering, to God’s heights. And the Letter to the Hebrews says: with all these cries, tears, prayers and supplications, the Lord has brought our reality to God (cf. Heb 5:7ff). And it uses this Greek word “prosferein”, which is the technical term for what the High Priest must do to offer, with raised hands.
It was in this drama of Gethsemane, where God’s power no longer seemed to be present, that Jesus fulfilled his role as High Priest. And it also says that in this act of obedience, that is, of the conformation of the natural human will to God’s will, he was perfected as a priest. Furthermore, it once again uses the technical word for ordaining a priest. In this way he truly became the High Priest of humanity and thus opened Heaven and the door to the resurrection.
If we reflect on this drama of Gethsemane we can also see the strong contrast between Jesus with his anguish, with his suffering, in comparison with the great philosopher Socrates, who stayed calm, without anxiety, in the face of death. And this seems the ideal. We can admire this philosopher but Jesus’ mission was different. His mission was not this total indifference and freedom; his mission was to bear in himself the whole burden of our suffering, the whole of the human drama. This humiliation of Gethsemane, therefore, is essential to the mission of the God-Man. He carries in himself our suffering, our poverty, and transforms it in accordance with God’s will. And thus he opens the doors of Heaven. He opens Heaven: this curtain of the Most Holy One, which until now Man has kept closed against God, is opened through his suffering and obedience. These are a few observations for Holy Thursday, for our celebration on Holy Thursday evening.
On Good Friday we will commemorate the Passion and death of the Lord; we will worship the Crucified Christ, we will share in his suffering with penance and fasting. Looking “on him whom they have pierced” (cf. Jn 19:37), we shall be able to draw from his pierced heart, from which blood and water flowed as from a source; from that heart from which the love of God for every human being flows, we receive his Spirit. Therefore, on Good Friday, let us too accompany Jesus on his ascent to Calvary, allowing him to guide us right to the Cross and to receive the offering of his immolated Body. Lastly, on the night of Holy Saturday we shall celebrate the solemn Easter Vigil during which Christ’s Resurrection is proclaimed, his definitive victory over death which calls us to be new men and women in him. In participating in this holy Vigil, the central Night of the entire Liturgical Year, we shall commemorate our Baptism, in which we too were buried with Christ, to be able to rise with him and take part in the banquet of Heaven (cf. Rev 19:7-9).
Dear friends, we have endeavoured to understand Jesus’ state of mind at the moment when he experienced the extreme trial in order to grasp what directed his action. The criterion that throughout his life guided every decision Jesus made was his firm determination to love the Father, to be one with the Father and to be faithful to him; this decision to respond to his love impelled him to embrace the Father’s plan in every single circumstance, to make his own the plan of love entrusted to him in order to recapitulate all things in God, to lead all things to him. In reliving the Sacred Triduum, let us also prepare ourselves to welcome God’s will in our life, knowing that our own true good, the way to life, is found in God’s will even if it appears harsh, in contrast with our intentions. May the Virgin Mother guide us on this itinerary and obtain from her divine Son the grace to be able to spend our life for love of Jesus, in the service of our brethren. Thank you."
Saluti:
"Je salue cordialement les fidèles francophones, particulièrement les jeunes! Durant ces jours saints, puissiez-vous chercher le recueillement et la prière, et vivre le sacrement de la réconciliation pour participer avec fruits aux célébrations de la Sainte Pâque. Avec ma bénédiction!
I offer a cordial welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience, especially the groups from England, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Canada and the United States. To you and your families I offer prayerful good wishes for a spiritually fruitful celebration of Holy Week and a happy Easter!
Gerne heiße ich alle Pilger und Besucher deutscher Sprache willkommen. Wir wollen uns mit Freude und mit innerer Bereitschaft auf das nahe Osterfest vorbereiten – im Gebet, im Empfang des Bußsakraments als Akt der Erneuerung, der Neuwerdung und in der Mitfeier der Liturgie. So sollen auch wir bereit sein, Gottes Willen in unserem Leben anzuerkennen und uns ihm mit innerer Freude anzuvertrauen, weil wir wissen, wem wir da vertrauen, damit wir wirklich als Getaufte, als Christen leben. Euch allen eine gesegnete Osterzeit!
Saludo con afecto a los peregrinos de lengua española, especialmente a los participantes en el encuentro UNIV, así como a los venidos de Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, España, México y otros países latinoamericanos. Que la Virgen María nos enseñe a todos a acompañar en estos días a su Hijo, en los momentos decisivos de su misterio redentor.
A minha saudação a todos peregrinos de língua portuguesa, particularmente aos jovens universitários vindos para o UNIV! Exorto-vos, na celebração do Santo Tríduo, a dispor-vos ao acolhimento nas vossas vidas da vontade de Deus, conscientes de que nela se encontra o nosso verdadeiro bem, e o caminho da vida! Uma Santa Páscoa para todos!
Od srca pozdravljam i blagoslivljam sve hrvatske hodočasnike, a osobito mlade iz Splita i Zadra. Dragi prijatelji, uskoro će nam se u liturgiji očitovati beskrajna ljubav kojom nas je Isus ljubio darujući svoj život da bismo mi imali puninu života. Slijedite Krista prema slavi uskrsnuća ljubeći jedni druge. Hvaljen Isus i Marija!
Nuoširdžiai sveikinu maldininkus iš Lietuvos. Garbė Jėzui Kristui! Brangūs bičiuliai, dėkoju, kad atvykote. Meldžiu jums ir visiems jūsų Tėvynės gyventojams gausių dangaus malonių. Visiems suteikiu Apaštališkąjį Palaiminimą.
Pozdrawiam obecnych tu Polaków. Liturgia Wielkiego Tygodnia wprowadza nas w tajemnice męki i śmierci Bożego Syna, aby niedzielny poranek zabłysnął światłem Jego zmartwychwstania. Życzę, aby przeżywanie tych tajemnic umacniało w nas wiarę, budziło nadzieję i rozpalało miłość, abyśmy coraz pełniej uczestniczyli w rzeczywistości naszego odkupienia. Niech Bóg wam błogosławi!
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Rivolgo un cordiale benvenuto ai pellegrini di lingua italiana. In particolare saluto voi, partecipanti all’incontro internazionale dell’UNIV, promosso dalla Prelatura dell'Opus Dei. Cari amici, auguro che queste giornate romane siano per tutti voi occasione di riscoperta della persona del Cristo e di forte esperienza ecclesiale perché possiate tornare a casa animati dal desiderio di testimoniare la misericordia del Padre celeste. Così attraverso la vostra vita si realizzerà quanto auspicava San Josemaría Escrivá: “Il tuo contegno e la tua conversazione siano tali, che tutti nel vederti o nel sentirti parlare, possano dire: ecco uno che legge la vita di Gesù Cristo” (Cammino, n. 2).
Saluto, poi, cordialmente i giovani, i malati e gli sposi novelli. Domani entreremo nel Sacro Triduo che ci farà rivivere i misteri centrali della nostra salvezza. Invito voi, cari giovani, specialmente voi ragazzi della “Lega Nazionale Dilettanti” a guardare alla Croce e trarre da essa luce per camminare fedelmente sulle orme del Redentore. Per voi, cari malati, la Passione del Signore, culminante nel trionfo glorioso della Pasqua, costituisca sempre sorgente di speranza e di conforto. E voi, cari sposi novelli, disponete i vostri cuori a celebrare con intensa partecipazione il Mistero pasquale, perché la vostra esistenza diventi ogni giorno un dono reciproco, aperto all'amore fecondo di bene."