I have just emptied the tabernacle and holy water fonts in preparation for the Triddum. If Jesus had not died and risen again there would be no sacraments, no hope, no eternal life. This Lent I have been reading a book by Pope Benedict XVI. It is called "Journey to Easter" and consists of Lent retreat addresses he gave long before he was Pope himself to Blessed John Paul II and his household. As I emptied the fonts, and moved the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle I thought of these words from the book:The Supper without the Cross, the Cross without the Supper, would be void, but the two without the Resurrection would be the wreck of hope. The image of the pierced side, fount of water and blood, is also the image of the Resurrection, of love stronger than death. In the Eucharist, we receive this love – we receive the medicine of immortality. The Eucharist guides us to the fount of true life, of invincible life, and shows us where and how true life is to be found – not in riches and possessions, not in having. Only if we follow Jesus on the way of his Cross, do we find ourselves on the road to life.
