It was a warm but rainy morning in Rome for the Holy Father’s general weekly audience on Easter Wednesday. Despite the rainy weather, the joy of Easter filled St. Peter’s Square.

“There was a nice big crowd to greet the Holy Father during this Easter Octave. He spoke about these days of the Easter season as special days of joy. And surrounding Saint Peter’s Basilica are gorgeous flowers, tulips that were delivered to the Vatican as they are annually from the Netherlands. And he asked us to reflect on the fact that these flowers remind us of the joy of Christ’s Resurrection. It’s that joy that we have to hold onto because we are celebrating this joy for fifty days of the Easter season,” reported Ashley Noronha, Relevant Radio^® Rome Correspondent in her weekly Relevant in Rome segment on Morning Air^®.

Continuing his catechesis on the Holy Mass, the Holy Father spoke about the Closing Rites. “He talked about the fact that when we look at those closing rites, we have to remember that although the Mass is coming to an end, our time to witness as Christians—as those who love the Lord—is just beginning. We are told to go in peace and to go out, but how do we do that? How can we really bring God into our daily lives?” Noronha asked.

We must take the Mass to heart. “We have to become Eucharistic men and women men and women. And we do that by allowing Christ to act through everything we do—to be in our thoughts, to be in our feelings and in our choices and in our works. And with that we allow the power of the spirit to grow within us.”

After the Closing Rites, Our Lord doesn’t just disappear. “Christ’s presence doesn’t end once the Mass ends. Christ is still present in the tabernacle and there the Eucharist is taken to be brought to the sick and of course, for Adoration. So we have to remember to continue to worship his presence inside those church walls and to allow those fruits of the Mass to grow inside of us,” said Noronha.

Pope Francis encouraged the faithful to regularly attend Mass as a way to help us grow in holiness. In this way, we can grow in union in Christ and it’s the graces that come from [the Holy Mass] that help us to separate from sin.”

“Every time I leave Mass, I must leave better than I entered,” said Pope Francis.