Thanks to the Eucharist, God’s absolute ‘no’ to violence, pronounced on the cross, is kept alive through the centuries. The Eucharist is the sacrament of non-violence. With his sacrifice, Christ defeated violence, not opposing it with greater violence, but suffering it and laying bare all its injustice and uselessness. He inaugurated a new kind of victory (emphasis added).
-Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap.
Official Preacher to the Papal Household, (1981 to present)
He holds doctorate degrees in Classical Literature (Milan, 1965) and in Theology (Fribuorg, 1962). He was a member of the International Theological Commission of the Catholic Church 1975-1981. He has been a priest for over fifty years.
Excerpt is from the Third Lenten Sermon, to the Pope, the Cardinals, Bishops and prelates of the Roman Curia and the general superiors of Religious Orders, March 11, 2005.
-ECM
