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Pope: Christ is the true medicine of immortality. Benedict XVI: “Joy cannot be commanded. It can only be given. The risen Lord gives us joy: true life. We are already held for ever in the love of the …More
Pope: Christ is the true medicine of immortality.

Benedict XVI: “Joy cannot be commanded. It can only be given. The risen Lord gives us joy: true life. We are already held for ever in the love of the One to whom all power in heaven and on earth has been given.”

Presiding over the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pope reminded everyone of the Lord’s promise of eternal life, who died and has risen for the salvation of humanity.

During the homily, the Pontiff reviewed humanity’s fears, and its “anguish at the destiny of illness, pain and death that has been imposed upon us.” Today, modern medical science strives, if not exactly to exclude death, at least to postpone it further and further. “What is new and exciting in the Christian message, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Benedict XVI said, “was and is that we are told: yes indeed, this cure for death, this true medicine of immortality, does exist. It has been found. It is within our reach. In baptism, this medicine is given to us. A new life begins in us, a life that matures in faith and is not extinguished by the death of the old life, but is only then fully revealed.”

Thus, with baptism, man abandons the clothing of death and is re-clothed in the garment of light of Jesus Christ. “Indeed, the cure for death does exist. Christ is the tree of life, once more within our reach. If we remain close to Him, then we have life,” Benedict XVI concluded.

During the celebration, the Pontiff administered the sacraments of baptism, confirmations and first communion to six catechumens.