Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale616

II

Iter Apostolicum Summi Pontificis in Regnum Unitum: Eucharistica perdurante

celebratione in Cathedrali Templo Vestmonasteriensi.*

Dear Friends in Christ,

I greet all of you with joy in the Lord and I thank you for your warm

reception. I am grateful to Archbishop Nichols for his words of welcome on

your behalf. Truly, in this meeting of the Successor of Peter and the faithful

of Britain, "heart speaks unto heart" as we rejoice in the love of Christ and in

our common profession of the Catholic faith which comes to us from the

Apostles. I am especially happy that our meeting takes place in this Cathe-

dral dedicated to the Most Precious Blood, which is the sign of God's re-

demptive mercy poured out upon the world through the passion, death and

resurrection of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In a particular way I greet the

Archbishop of Canterbury, who honours us by his presence.

The visitor to this Cathedral cannot fail to be struck by the great crucifix

dominating the nave, which portrays Christ's body, crushed by suffering,

overwhelmed by sorrow, the innocent victim whose death has reconciled us

with the Father and given us a share in the very life of God. The Lord's

outstretched arms seem to embrace this entire church, lifting up to the

Father all the ranks of the faithful who gather around the altar of the Eu-

charistic sacrifice and share in its fruits. The crucified Lord stands above and

before us as the source of our life and salvation, "the high priest of the good

things to come", as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews calls him in

today's first reading.1

It is in the shadow, so to speak, of this striking image, that I would like to

consider the word of God which has been proclaimed in our midst and reflect

on the mystery of the Precious Blood. For that mystery leads us to see the

unity between Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, the Eucharistic sacrifice which

he has given to his Church, and his eternal priesthood, whereby, seated at the

right hand of the Father, he makes unceasing intercession for us, the mem-

bers of his mystical body.

* Die 18 Septembris 2010. 1 Heb 9:11.