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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Covers Christ's Baptism to His Transfiguration

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's book on Jesus of Nazareth will be presented to the public on Friday, April 13.

It will be presented in the Vatican's Synod Hall at 4 p.m., local time.

The volume will be on sale in bookshops on Monday, April 16, in its Italian, German and Polish editions.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna; Daniele Garrone, dean of the Waldensian Faculty of Theology in Rome; and Massimo Cacciari, professor of aesthetics at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, will present the volume. Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi will lead the presentation.

The then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger began the book during his vacation in 2003. After having been elected Bishop of Rome, as revealed in the text, he took advantage of every free moment to complete it.

In the Preface, the Pope writes that this work "is not a magisterial act, but solely an expression of my personal search for the face of the Lord. Therefore, all are free to contradict me."

He explained: "Because I do not know how much time I am left and how much strength I will be given, now I have decided to publish the first 10 chapters as a first part of my book, which go from the Baptism in the Jordan to the confession of Peter and the Transfiguration."

There are plans for nine other volumes to be published later.

Code: ZE07040402

Date: 2007-04-04

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

HWARI, Myanmar, APRIL 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Father Paolo Noè, widely known as the patriarch of Myanmar, is dead after 59 years of missionary service. He was 89.

The director of AsiaNews, Father Bernardo Cervellera, reported that Father Noè's passing marks the end of an era in the history of Myanmar's first evangelization.

"Father Paolo was the last missionary in the country sent by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions," Father Cervellera reported. "Unlike most other foreign missionaries who were expelled by the government in 1966, including those who had arrived before independence, he was able to remain."

Father Noè first arrived in 1948, when the country was still called Burma. Father Cervellera explained that he was the last of the 29 missionaries given a residency visa.

"But he was never able to leave because the government in Yangon threatened him and the others that if they left they would not be allowed back in," the AsiaNews director explained. All the missionaries vowed "to stay put until death and never travel abroad."

Father Noè's work included helping to found the six dioceses in Myanmar, along with building Christian communities, training local priests and educating youth.

Code: ZE07040403

Date: 2007-04-04

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

LOS ANGELES, APRIL 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Legislation that would allow assisted suicide in California is an assault on life, said Cardinal Roger Mahony in a homily at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

The archbishop of Los Angeles spoke out against assisted suicide on April 2, the anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II, noting that the Pontiff lived the end of his life with dignity and died "after much suffering."

A prominent sponsor of the assisted suicide bill is California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, a Democrat from Los Angeles.

"We should be troubled that Fabian Núñez -- who has worshipped here in this cathedral, [who] is a Catholic -- somehow has not understood and grasped the culture of life but has allowed himself to get swept into this other direction, the culture of death," Cardinal Mahony said.

This is the fourth attempt by state lawmakers to pass an assisted suicide bill.

This legislation, called the California Compassionate Choices Act, modeled after the 9-year-old law in neighboring Oregon. It would make California the second state to legalize assisted suicide.

Cardinal Mahony said, "If Pope John Paul II were standing here right now, he'd say, 'We must not go down that path.'"

Code: ZE07040415

Date: 2007-04-04

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave at the general audience today in St. Peter's Square. The reflection highlighted key moments of the Easter triduum.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As the Lenten journey -- begun with Ash Wednesday -- comes to an end, today's liturgy of Holy Wednesday already introduces us into the dramatic atmosphere of the coming days, filled with the remembrance of the passion and death of Christ.

In fact, in today's liturgy, the Evangelist Matthew presents for our meditation the brief dialogue that occurred in the Upper Room between Jesus and Judas. "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" the traitor says to the Divine Teacher, who had prophesied: "Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."

The Lord's answer was incisive: "You have said so" (cf. Matthew 26:14-25).

St. John concludes narrating the prophecy of the betrayal with a short, meaningful phrase: "It was night" (John 13:30).

When the traitor exits the Upper Room, darkness penetrates his heart -- it is an internal night -- discouragement grows in the spirits of the other disciples -- they too go toward the night -- while the shadows of abandonment and hate grow darker around the Son of Man, who prepares himself for the consummation of his sacrifice on the cross.

In the coming days, we will commemorate the supreme battle between Light and Darkness, between Life and Death.

We also have to place ourselves within this context -- aware of our own "night," of our sins and responsibilities -- if we want to spiritually benefit again from the paschal mystery, if we want to bring light to our hearts, by way of this mystery, which is the center point of our faith.

The beginning of the Easter triduum is Holy Thursday, tomorrow. During the Chrism Mass, which can be considered a prelude to the triduum, bishops of dioceses and their closest collaborators, the priests, surrounded by the people of God, renew the promises they made on the day of their priestly ordination.

Year after year, it is an intense moment of ecclesial communion, which highlights the gift of the ministerial priesthood which Christ left to his Church on the night before he died on the cross. And for each priest, it is a moving moment in the midst of the vigil of the passion, in which the Lord gave himself to us, gave us the sacrament of the Eucharist, and gave us the priesthood.

It is a day that moves our hearts. Later, the holy oils used for the sacraments are blessed: oil of catechumens, oil of the sick, and holy chrism. In the afternoon, entering into the Easter triduum, the community relives in the Mass "in Cena Domini" all that took place in the Last Supper. In the Upper Room, the Redeemer wanted to anticipate, with the sacrament of blood and wine made his body and his blood, the sacrifice of his life: He anticipated his death, the free gift of his life, offered as the definitive gift of himself to humanity.

With the washing of the feet, the gesture is repeated with which he, having loved his own in this world, loved them to the end (cf. John 13:1), and left his disciples, as a sort of trademark, this act of humility, love unto death.

After the Mass "in Cena Domini," the liturgy invites the faithful to remain in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, reliving Jesus' agony in Gethsemane. And we see how the disciples slept, leaving the Lord alone.

Today as well -- frequently -- we sleep -- we, his disciples. In this holy night of Gethsemane, we want to stay on guard; we do not want to leave the Lord alone in this hour. And in doing this, we can better understand the mystery of Holy Thursday, which encompasses the threefold, most-high gifts of the ministerial priesthood, the Eucharist and the new commandment of love, "agape."

Good Friday, which commemorates the happenings between Christ's condemnation to death and his crucifixion, is a day of penance, of fasting, of prayer, of participation in the passion of the Lord. At the prescribed hour, the Christian assembly retraces, with the help of the Word of God and liturgical actions, the history of human infidelity to the divine plan, which nevertheless is fulfilled precisely in this way. And we listen again to the moving narration of the sorrowful passion of the Lord.

Later, a long "prayer of the faithful" is directed to the heavenly Father, which includes all of the needs of the Church and the world. Then, the community adores the cross, and approaches the Eucharist, consuming the sacred species, reserved since the Mass "in Cena Domini" from the day before.

Commenting on Good Friday, St. John Chrysostom said: "Before, the cross meant disdain, but today it is venerated. Before, it was a symbol of condemnation, today it is the hope of salvation. It has truly been converted into a fount of infinite goods; it has liberated us from error, it has scattered our darkness, it has reconciled us with God. From being enemies of God, it has made us his family, from foreigners it has converted us to his neighbors: This cross is the destruction of enmity, the fount of peace, the coffer of our treasure" ("De cruce et latrone," I, 1, 4).

To live the passion of the Redeemer more intensely, Christian tradition has given rise to numerous manifestations of popular piety, among them, the well-known Good Friday processions, with the evocative rites which are repeated year after year. But there is one expression of piety, the Way of the Cross, that offers us year-round the opportunity to impress in our spirits ever more deeply the mystery of the cross, advancing with Christ along this path and thus, interiorly conforming ourselves to him.

We could say that the Way of the Cross teaches us, using an expression from St. Leo the Great, to "fix the eyes of our heart on Christ crucified and recognize in him our own humanity" (Sermon 15 on the Passion of the Lord). In this consists the true wisdom of Christianity, that we wish to learn with the Way of the Cross on Good Friday in the Colosseum.

Holy Saturday is a day in which the liturgy is hushed, the day of great silence, which invites Christians to foster an interior recollection, often difficult to maintain in our day, so as to prepare us for the Easter Vigil. In many communities, spiritual retreats and Marian prayer meetings are organized on this day, in union with the Mother of the Redeemer, who awaits the resurrection of the crucified Son with anxious confidence.

Finally, in the Easter Vigil, the veil of sadness, which surrounds the Church during the death and burial of the Lord, will be torn in two by the victorious cry: Christ has risen and has overcome death forever! Then we can truly understand the mystery of the cross and, as an ancient author writes: "As God creates wonders even from the impossible, so that we will know that only he can do as he wishes: From his death proceeds our life; from his wounds, our healing; from his fall, our resurrection, from his descent, our rising up" (Anonymous 14th).

Animated by a stronger faith, at the heart of the Easter Vigil, we welcome the newly baptized and renew our own baptismal promises. Thus, we will experience that the Church is always alive, always renewing itself, always beautiful and holy, because its foundation is Christ, who, having risen, will never die again.

Dear brothers and sisters, the paschal mystery, which the holy triduum allows us to relive, is not only a memory of a past reality. It is a current reality: Today, too, Christ overcomes sin and death with his love. Evil, in all of its forms, does not have the final word. The final triumph belongs to Christ, to truth, to love!

If we, with him, are willing to suffer and die, as St. Paul reminds us in the Easter Vigil, his life will become our life (cf. Romans 6:9). Our Christian existence is based on and grows from this certainty.

Invoking the intercession of Holy Mary, who followed Jesus on the path of the passion and the cross, and who embraced him when he was taken down from the cross, I hope that all of you will participate fervently in the Easter triduum, and will experience the joy of Easter with all of your loved ones.

Code: ZE07040401

Date: 2007-04-04

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

April 8, 2007
Holy Pascha
The Feast of Feasts

"Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death,
And to those in the tombs granting life."
Troparion of the Feast of Pascha

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is Risen!

On this most sacred of Feasts in our Church, we gather together in joy and in love, celebrating the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst, and singing with one voice the triumphant hymn "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death, and to those in the tombs granting life."

This day of the Resurrection marks the beginning of an explosion of joy that comes immediately after the spiritually intense period of Great Lent and Holy Week, and this beautiful hymn captures in three verses the fundamental message of the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a message of victory, of love, and of hope in life everlasting. On this day, and throughout the Paschal season over the next several weeks, we proclaim this message of victory, love, and hope together in song through this beautiful hymn at the beginning of each divine service in our Church. This hymn, simple in form yet deep in power, is worthy of studying as we seek to fully understand our celebration of Holy Pascha, the Feast of Feasts of our Orthodox Church.

The first verse of this hymn expresses the facticity and reality of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, "Christ is risen from the dead." The reality of the resurrection has been a distinguishing feature of Christianity from the earliest of times. St. Paul expresses this idea to the Corinthians by a paradoxical statement: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (I Corinthians 15:17). In the same context, St. Paul declares unequivocally that Christ has been raised from the dead, that He appeared after His resurrection to as many as five hundred people at one time, most of whom were still alive when St. Paul was writing. (I Corinthians 15:6). For us today, the assuring words of this Epistle continue to provide us with their intended effect, which is that our faith in Christ is not futile and that, because of the reality of His resurrection, we are no longer held captive to our sins.

The second verse of the Paschal hymn explains to us the extraordinary manner by which Christ conquered death's dominion over us once and for all: "Trampling death by death." When Jesus was crucified, He took on the sins of all humanity and suffered a death the intensity of which remains truly incomprehensible to us as human beings. This demonstrates the unending love of our God, Who took on human flesh and Who died on a Cross for our salvation. By submitting Himself to death, Christ not only annihilated sin but also death. The final defeat of the archenemy death could not happen but only through death itself, not an ordinary death, however, but the death of God who became man.

The third and final verse of the beautiful hymn of Pascha reveals the very essence of the feast, for it encapsulates the full consequence of Christâ''s resurrection from the dead: "And to those in the tombs granting life." To all of us on this day then, this is a day of promise and of hope for life everlasting with Him. This last verse reiterates the message that St. Paul was communicating to the Romans when he wrote that as Christians we are dead to sin but alive in Christ: "We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). This is the message of our Orthodox Christian faith which we celebrate on this day, and indeed every day of our earthly lives. It is a message that proclaims our ultimate victory and triumph over all forces of darkness that attempt to impede our progress on the road of salvation toward eternal life with Christ Jesus. This is our destiny as Orthodox Christians, for we have been saved by Christ Who offers us the opportunity to live eternally with Him in the kingdom of God's joy.

It is in this spirit that our repeated chanting of this triumphant hymn will enable us to come closer and closer toward understanding the power of its saving message: Christ is Risen! Truly the Lord is Risen! May the joy and eternal peace of the Risen Christ abide with all of you, and may you walk "in the newness of life" in Christ forever.

With my warmest Paschal wishes
And love in the Risen Christ,

+ DEMETRIOS
Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America

www.goarch.org 

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

From commitment to Resurrection

“Father, into your hands I commit/commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46)

It is certainly risky to commit ourselves – individually or as community – to someone or something. It is even riskier to release ourselves into the hands of another. Experience of disappointments leads us to suspicion.

What cause is worthy of our commitment? What person is worthy of our self-sacrificial love? Whom can I trust?

After committing their lives to Jesus, the apostles must have been quite disturbed to hear Jesus’ words from the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mk 15:34). If God the Father had forsaken him, what about them? Had they heard the words of Jesus’ final cry? Only Luke records them: “Father, into your hands I commend (commit) my spirit” (Lk 23:46).

Probably only after reflection did they look at the psalm from which Jesus took these (former) words. Psalm 22 starts with a complaint but ends with thanksgiving for victory. On the cross, Jesus was truly enthroned as the King of Glory, as the icon of the crucifixion is often captioned.

Jesus’ will was one with the will of the Father. The cross and the resurrection required Jesus’ cooperation; he didn’t just sit back and passively accept his fate.

Similarly, our lives will have meaning if we join our wills to that of the Father.

Since Jesus no longer walks our streets as he once did; we rely on our common relationship with the resurrected Christ.

In the new edition of the Divine Liturgy, the deacon calls us to “commit (rather than “commend”) ourselves and one another and our whole lives to Christ our God.” In the Divine Liturgy, we join Christ whose total commitment to the will of the Father included his entrusting himself to the Father’s care but also doing what was directed.

Similarly, we entrust ourselves to the power of God by committing ourselves to doing his will.

Let our lives proceed from the apparent lack of God’s help in doing what we believe is necessary (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) to commitment to do the Father’s will and trust in him (“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”).

The Resurrection will become a reality, to a degree as we proceed through this earthly journey, but totally afterwards.

Let us proceed through Psalm 22 to the last verse: “Let the coming generation be told of the Lord that they may proclaim to a people yet to be born the justice he has shown.” Let all people know that

CHRIST IS RISEN!
INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Bishop John Kudrick is the bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma Ohio.

www.parma.org