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Remember Christ's love for us during days leading up to Easter

VATICAN CITY — During the final days of Holy Week, Catholics should recognize that Christ's love for them is shown by "the total gift of Himself on the cross," said Pope Benedict XVI.

"Let us allow ourselves to be touched by this love, to be transformed, so that the Resurrection may really be realized in us. I invite you, therefore, to live the Paschal Triduum intensely, and I wish you all a Holy Easter!" the pope said on April 4.

Pictured: Pilgrims wave U.S. flags as Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd as he arrives for his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 4. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

The pope made his remarks to more than 11,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for his Wednesday general audience. He explained to them that from Thursday onwards, "we enter the Easter Triduum, the summit of the liturgical year" that celebrates "the central mystery of faith: the Passion, death and Resurrection of Christ."

Exploring the scriptural texts that will be used over the three days of the Triduum, the pope explained how St. John's Gospel describes those days in the life of Jesus as His "hour."

"Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end," Pope Benedict said, quoting the passage from St. John 13:1 in full.

"The whole life of Jesus is oriented towards this hour," he noted, proposing that the whole historical episode is "characterized by two aspects that illuminate each other."

The pope said the first aspect is Christ's hour being a "passage" – "metabasis" in ancient Greek – while the second feature of His hour is Jesus' "love until the end," called "agape" in Greek.

"It is the divine love, the Holy Spirit of which Jesus is filled, which allows Jesus to 'pass' through the abyss of evil and death, and sees Him emerge into the new 'space' of the Resurrection," the pope said.

And His hour is marked by "agape," which "brings about this transformation" that allows Jesus to go "beyond the limits of the human condition marked by sin and overcomes the barrier that keeps man prisoner, separated from God and eternal life."

Pope Benedict finished his reflections on the Paschal Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) by saying that those who participate in faith in the liturgical celebrations "are invited to experience this transformation brought about by agape."

The days leading up to Easter Sunday will be among the busiest of the year for 84-year-old Pope Benedict.

On Thursday he celebrates the Chrism Mass with the priests of the Diocese of Rome in St. Peter's Basilica at 9:30 a.m. He will then travel across the city for the Mass of the Lord's Supper at his cathedral church, the basilica of St. John Lateran, at 5:30 p.m.

On Good Friday, the pope will lead the Celebration of the Lord's Passion in St. Peter's at 5 p.m., followed by the Stations of the Cross in Rome's Coliseum at 9:15 p.m.

On Holy Saturday evening, the pope will preside over the Easter Vigil, beginning at 9 p.m. in St. Peter's.

The pope's intense schedule will wrap up with 10:15 a.m. Mass on Easter Sunday in St. Peter's Square, followed by his "Urbi et Orbi" message and blessing to the "city and world" at noon.

— CNA/EWTN News