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Skriven 2007-04-12 07:33:40 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Press Release
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                               VIS-Press releases

WITNESSES OF CHRIST'S DEATH AND HIS PASSAGE TO A NEW LIFE

VATICAN CITY, APR 11, 2007 (VIS) - More than 50,000 people attended today's
general audience, which was held in St. Peter's Square. The Pope, who arrived
by helicopter from his residence in Castelgandolfo, dedicated his catechesis to
the Easter Octave.

After reiterating his best wishes for Easter to the faithful, Benedict XVI
spoke of Jesus' various appearances following His resurrection. "Also for us,"
he said, "they represent an invitation to enter more deeply into the Easter
message ... and to follow the spiritual itinerary of the people who met Christ
and recognized Him in those first days."

The Pope then recalled how St. John and St. Peter, after Mary had given them
the news of the resurrection, had run to the tomb each trying to arrive there
first, and he highlighted how for the Fathers of the Church this race towards
the empty tomb represented "the one form of legitimate competition between
believers: zeal in the search for Christ." Referring to Mary Magdalene, the
Holy Father pointed out how she recognized Jesus "when He called her by her
name."

"We too, if we seek the Lord with a simple and sincere heart, will find Him.
Indeed, He Himself will come out to meet us, ... He will call us by name, ...
He will draw us into the intimacy of His love." Like the Apostles, "we are
called to be witnesses to the death and resurrection of Christ. We cannot keep
the great news to ourselves, we must spread it to the entire world."

"If the Apostles had Jesus at their table," said the Pope recalling the supper
at Emmaus, "then we have Him in our hearts." Of course, Benedict XVI explained,
"when the sacred author tells us that Jesus appeared alive, this does not mean
that He returned to his old life, as Lazarus had. The Easter we celebrate ...
is a 'passage,' not a 'return.' Jesus did not go back to His earlier condition,
He crossed a frontier to a more glorious, new and definitive condition."

When Jesus tells Mary Magdalene "do not detain me because I have not yet
ascended," said the Pope, these words seem to contrast with the invitation to
Thomas to put his finger in Jesus' side to ensure He was alive. "In fact,
though, there is no contrast between the two episodes, on the contrary, one
helps to understand the other. Mary Magdalene would have wished her Master as
He was before, seeing the cross as a dramatic interlude best forgotten. Now,
however, there was no longer any place for a merely human relationship with the
Risen One. To meet Him there was no turning back, but the creation of a new
relationship with Him." And Christ showed His wound to Thomas, "not to forget
the cross but to make it unforgettable. ... The mission of disciples is to bear
witness to the death and resurrection of their Master and of their new life."
AG/RESURRECTION/...VIS 070411 (510)

SUMMARY

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