At a midday public audience on Sunday, April 3, Pope Benedict XVI
invited the faithful to look forward joyfully to the celebration of
Easter and, beyond that, the beatification of Pope John Paul II.
Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus cures the man who
was born blind, the Pope said: “We too, because of Adam's sin, are born
'blind', but at the baptismal font we are illuminated by Christ's
grace.”
All of Christian life, the Pope said, “is a continual
conformation to Christ,” who is the light of the world.
That light, he
added, “continues to reveal the meaning of human existence in the
complex fabric of history.”
Noting that we had passed the 6th anniversary of the death of Pope John
Paul II, and are moving toward the May 1 date of his beatification, the
Pope voiced his joy that “we will be able to venerate as Blessed this
great Pontiff and witness of Christ, and to trust ever more in his
intercession.”