Sunday, April 19, 2009

DOMINICA IN ALBIS IN OCTAVA PASCHAE: "Pax vobis."

In illo tempore: Cum sero esset die illo, una sabbatorum, et fores essent clausae, ubi erant discipuli congregati propter metum Iudaeorum, venit Iesus, et stetit in medio, et dixit eis: Pax vobis.
-- Ioannem 20, 19-31

Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of the forgiveness of sins: it unites us to Christ, who died and rose, and gives us the Holy Spirit. By Christ's will, the Church possesses the power to forgive the sins of the baptized and exercises it through bishops and priests normally in the sacrament of Penance. "In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to efface our sins and give us the grace of justification."
-- CCC 984-987

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for DOMINICA IN ALBIS.