"Where is the spring of Christian joy but in the Eucharist, that Christ left as a spiritual Food, whilst we are pilgrims on this earth?": this was said yesterday morning by Benedict XVI, back from the youth detention centre "Casal del Marmo" in Roma, where we went to meet the young convicts before officiating the Angelus prayer from Saint Peter’s Square. "Today said the Pope on the fourth Lenten Sunday, also known as ‘Laetare’ the liturgy invites us to cheer up, because Easter, the day of Christ’s victory over sin and death, is drawing nearer". And it is the Eucharist, specified the Pope, that "feeds in the believers of all ages that deep joy that is at one with love and peace and that springs out of one’s communion with God and with one’s neighbours". Then, the Hoy Father recalled that the post-synod apostolic exhortation "Sacramentum caritatis", announced last Tuesday, is precisely about "the Eucharist as the source and peak of the life and mission of the Church". The text, explained Benedict XVI, "is an expression of the faith of the universal Church in the Eucharistic Mystery, which continues the Second Vatican Council and the magisterium of my revered predecessors, Paul VI and John Paul II". (to be continued)
