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METRO DETROIT — During the Triduum and Easter Sunday, members of the Church reflect on the very meaning of Christ's mission.

God's people remember Christ's gift of Himself to us.

They remember his full humanity as they dwell on what He did. He shed blood, endured torture and died.

And they remember his full divinity. Forgiving us, He conquered death for our sake.

In the Church of Detroit, Cardinal Adam Maida led members of the archdiocese in celebrating all Christ's actions – from washing His disciples feet, to the breaking of the bread, to embracing His cross, to rising from the dead.

Throughout the week, Cardinal Maida emphasized how much Christ loves us, what that love means and how we as God's family on earth can accept that love.

Here are excerpts from the cardinal's homilies:

To be worthy to celebrate the Easter Sacraments, we must let the Lord unleash anything and everything that holds us back from full communion with Him and one another.

…Whatever may be in the recesses of our heart, in this Holy Chrism Mass, let us pray for the grace to be liberated from within. In our Eucharistic flashback of memories, may we experience personal and communal healing, trusting that all things come together in a greater synthesis, a heavenly Passover.

…Let us also take a second step—individually and as a community of faith. Let us resolve to accept the mission Jesus proclaims in today's Gospel, especially when He says He has come "to proclaim liberty to captives and to let the oppressed go free…"

As He gave the command to repeat His action of breaking the bread and pouring out the wine, Jesus was also saying something about Himself. His words were autobiographical for they truly summarized His desire that His flesh could be our daily nourishment, even as He had promised in the miracle of multiplication of the loaves.

…These words of Jesus—"Do this in memory of me"—are both a promise and a challenge, for they remind us of our call to be a Eucharistic community not only at the Lord's Table here and now, but also in the way we put this mystery into concrete action through service of neighbor.

Recall that in the context of the Supper, the Lord Jesus rose from the table and washed the feet of His disciples. Certainly, a very important part of the command of Jesus includes our call to serve the least of our brothers and sisters.

The mystery of Christ's suffering is not about trying to appease or win back the good grace of God the Father.

As we see in the story of the Prodigal Son, it is truly the Father who is "prodigal" or extravagant in mercy and compassion, ready and waiting for the homecoming of any and all who sin.

Jesus died not because the Father required it, but because He chose to absorb our human anger, and thereby transform it. He understood that the only way to break through our defenses and heal us would be precisely by allowing us to inflict on Him our pain and anger. In the mystery of the cross, God transforms our self-hatred and brings us healing from within. God embraces and accepts us at our very worst—not in spite of our sin but precisely because of it.

In the journey of the Christian life, we move from one thing to another, always following the summons of the Spirit to a deeper interior conversion. Every gift of this world is but a foreshadowing of another greater gift yet to come.

…Each of us needs to hear the question of the two angels to the holy women in tonight's Gospel as they puzzle over the empty tomb: "Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here but He has been raised. Remember what He said to you…"

Our world today is a culture preoccupied with death, afraid to truly live. We will not find the Lord in those things which are forces of death and destruction—violence and war, hatred and prejudice, jealousy and selfishness. Rather, we will find "the living one" by looking for His presence among the least of our brothers and sisters.

We will experience the Lord by remembering His Word, sharing that Word with one another and trying to live always according to His Word.

Every aspect of today's feast and readings announces the marvelous truth that for the Christian, everything and everyone can be made new, holy and glorious. Whatever has been bound by fear can be overcome.

Any sin can be forgiven; all brokenness can be healed.

…Easter faith involves not only a relation with the Lord but also with His Body, the Church…As Christians, we do not serve the Lord as isolated individuals, but by fidelity to our vocations and commitments in Christian marriage and family living, by working together to transform our society.

Easter faith involves our openness to letting the power of risen life change our hearts and speak and act through us for the ongoing salvation of the world. Transformed by grace and healed of sin, we are called to be agents of transformation for the world around us.

…We pray that we ourselves will be renewed by the breath of the Risen Lord, experiencing His peace in our hearts and finding ways to bring that peace and new life to all who are weighed down by sin, fear or death. In union with the writer of Psalm 118, let us proclaim this day and every day, "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia!"