VATICAN CITY, MAY 31, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Even though the Easter season is over, the commitment to live a life of grace is not, Benedict XVI said Sunday before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Noting that even though the Easter season has concluded, he said “that does not mean that the commitment of Christians must diminish, rather, having entered into the divine life through the sacraments, we are called daily to be open to the action of grace, to progress in the love of God and our neighbor.”
“This Sunday,” he continued, “the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, recapitulates, in a sense, God’s revelation in the paschal mysteries: Christ’s death and resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of the Father and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
“The human mind and language are inadequate for explaining the relationship that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and nevertheless the Fathers of the Church tried to illustrate the mystery of the One and Triune God, living it in their existence with profound faith.”
The Holy Father reflected on the sign of the cross, and noted that on the day of baptism the faithful are baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
“We recall the name of God in which we were baptized every time that we make the sign of the cross,” he said. “Thus in the sign of the cross and in the name of the living God the proclamation that generates faith and inspires prayer is contained.”
After leading the faithful in the Angelus prayer, Benedict XVI spoke of his upcoming trip this week to Cyprus, “to meet and pray with the Catholic and Orthodox faithful there and to consign the Instrumentum Laboris for the upcoming Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Middle East.”
“I ask for your prayers for the peace and prosperity of all the people of Cyprus, as well as for the preparations for the Special Assembly,” he added.
In Italian, the Pontiff acknowledged the beatification on Sunday of Maria Pierina De Micheli. The religious of the Institute of the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception of Buenos Aires was beatified in Rome at the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
“Giuseppina — this was he baptismal name — was born in Milan in 1890, in a deeply religious family, where different vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life blossomed,” Benedict XVI said. “At 23 she also set out on this road, dedicating herself with passion to service in education in Argentina and in Italy.
<br>”The Lord granted her an extraordinary devotion to his Holy Face, which always sustained her in trials and sickness. She died in 1945 and her remains are at the Institute of the Holy Spirit in Rome.”
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