Elise Harris, Catholic News Agency
Pope Francis said today that the Easter Triduum is the most important time of year for Christians and stressed that those who truly allow themselves to be transformed by Jesus’ resurrection, while still being sinners, cannot be corrupt.
“A Christian, if he truly allows himself to be washed by Christ, if he truly lets himself be stripped of the ‘old man’ to walk in a new life, even while remaining a sinner, he cannot be corrupt,” the Pope said. “He can no longer live with death in the soul, nor can he be the cause of death.”
The justification Jesus offered by dying on the cross “saves us from corruption,” he said, stressing, as he often has, that while everyone is a sinner, Christians must never be corrupt.
He added that it is “sad and painful” to see “fake Christians” who claim to be walking according to the path given by Jesus after his resurrection, but who, in reality, are living a corrupt life.
“These fake Christians will end poorly,” he said, adding that “a Christian, I repeat, is a sinner, we all are, I am, but we have the certainty that when we ask for forgiveness the Lord will forgive us. The fake Christian pretends to ask for forgiveness, but in their heart is rotten.”
Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered for his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square. He dedicated his catechesis to the Easter Triduum, which he said are “the most important days in the liturgical year,” and signify “the fundamental phases of our faith and of our vocation in the world.”
All Christians, he said, “are called to live the three holy days as, so to speak, the ‘matrix’ of their personal and community lives.”
He pointed to St. Paul’s assertion in the Second Book of Corinthians that “the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” Later, in his letter to the Romans, Paul describes the Easter transformation in a different way, saying Christ “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
Easter is also a time for solidarity with those who suffer, he said, noting that Christians can see the face of Christ in the vulnerable and those experiencing pain, and are able to love them with the same love Jesus offered through his sacrifice on the cross.