VATICAN CITY, 20 MAR 2008 (VIS) - In the Vatican Basilica at 9.30 a.m. today, Holy Thursday, the Holy Father presided at the Chrism Mass, which is celebrated on this day in churches and cathedrals throughout the world. Cardinals, bishops and priests present in Rome concelebrated with the Pope. Following the homily, there was the renewal of priestly vows and the blessing of the oil used for catechumens, the sick and those being confirmed.
In his homily, the Pope explained how the Chrism Mass "encourages us to revive that 'yes' to the call of God which we pronounced on the day of our ordination as priests".
The Old Testament describes the tasks that define the essence of priestly ministry as "standing before the Lord" and "serving", he said.
A priest "must be on his guard against the threatening powers of evil. He must awaken the world to God. He must remain standing upright against the currents of the times".
"To stand before the Lord must also mean, in the most profound sense, taking on responsibility for mankind before the Lord Who, in His turn, takes on responsibility for all of us before the Father. And this must mean accepting Him, Christ, accepting His word, His truth, His love".
Secondly, the Pope went on, a priest must serve. "What a priest does ... in celebrating the Eucharist is to serve, to accomplish a service to God and a service to mankind. Christ's worship of the Father was His total giving of Himself for mankind. The priest must become part of such worship, of such service.
"Thus", he added, "the word 'service' includes many dimensions". It implies "the correct celebration of the liturgy and of the Sacraments in general". In this context he highlighted how priests "are familiar with the Word, they love it and they live it; only then can they adequately explain it".
Service, the Holy Father proceeded, "also means closeness, it requires familiarity" such as that of the servant to his master. However, "such familiarity also brings a danger: that continual contact with the sacred may become a habit for us. Thus we lose our reverential awe. Conditioned by habit, we no longer perceive the great, new and surprising fact that He Himself is present, He speaks to us and gives Himself to us".
Service "means, above all, obedience" said Pope Benedict. "Humanity's temptation is always that of wanting to be completely autonomous, of following only their own will and of insisting that only thus will we be free, that only through such limitless freedom can mankind be fully realised and become divine. Yet it is precisely thus that we run counter to the truth". We are free, the Pope stated, if "we share our freedom with others, ... if we obey the will of God".
Benedict XVI concluded by highlighting how priests "announce not ourselves but Him and His Word. ... Our obedience is believing with the Church, thinking and talking with the Church, serving with her".
At 5.30 p.m. in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Benedict XVI presided at the Mass of the Lord's Supper. During the celebration, imitating the gesture of the Lord towards His Apostles, the Pope washed the feet of 12 priests. At the presentation of the gifts, he was given alms collected for the "Edad de oro" orphanage in Havana, Cuba.
Commenting in his homily on Jesus' gesture of washing His disciples' feet, the Pope dwelt on the need for interior purification as a necessary condition for living in communion with God and our fellows.
"Day after day", he said, "we are, as it were, covered with dirt, with empty words, with prejudices, with watered-down and adulterated wisdom; multiple forms of semi-falsity or open falseness continually infiltrate our inner being. This clouds and contaminates our soul, it threatens us with an incapacity for truth and goodness. If we accept the words of Jesus with an attentive heart, they wash and purify the soul".
The Gospel episode of the washing of the feet invites us "always to let ourselves be washed by that pure water, to allow ourselves to be capable of convivial communion with God and with our brothers and sisters".
"The gift and the example that we find in the story of the washing of the feet are characteristic of the nature of Christianity in general", said the Pope. "Christianity is not some kind of moralism, a system of ethics. ... It is, first and foremost, a gift: God gives Himself to us. He does not give something but gives Himself. ... For this reason, the central act of being Christian is the Eucharist".
We need the 'washing of the feet', the washing away of everyday sins. It is for this that we need the confession of sins". In the Sacrament of Penance "the Lord ever and anew washes our dirty feet so we can sit at table with Him".
Benedict XVI concluded his homily by highlighting how "Easter Thursday calls us to this: not to allow rancour towards others to become, deep down, a poisoning of the soul. It exhorts us to continual purification of memory, forgiving one another from the heart, washing one another's feet, thus to be able to go together to God's banquet".
BXVI-HOLY WEEK/HOLY THURSDAY/... VIS 20080326 (890)
In his homily, the Pope explained how the Chrism Mass "encourages us to revive that 'yes' to the call of God which we pronounced on the day of our ordination as priests".
The Old Testament describes the tasks that define the essence of priestly ministry as "standing before the Lord" and "serving", he said.
A priest "must be on his guard against the threatening powers of evil. He must awaken the world to God. He must remain standing upright against the currents of the times".
"To stand before the Lord must also mean, in the most profound sense, taking on responsibility for mankind before the Lord Who, in His turn, takes on responsibility for all of us before the Father. And this must mean accepting Him, Christ, accepting His word, His truth, His love".
Secondly, the Pope went on, a priest must serve. "What a priest does ... in celebrating the Eucharist is to serve, to accomplish a service to God and a service to mankind. Christ's worship of the Father was His total giving of Himself for mankind. The priest must become part of such worship, of such service.
"Thus", he added, "the word 'service' includes many dimensions". It implies "the correct celebration of the liturgy and of the Sacraments in general". In this context he highlighted how priests "are familiar with the Word, they love it and they live it; only then can they adequately explain it".
Service, the Holy Father proceeded, "also means closeness, it requires familiarity" such as that of the servant to his master. However, "such familiarity also brings a danger: that continual contact with the sacred may become a habit for us. Thus we lose our reverential awe. Conditioned by habit, we no longer perceive the great, new and surprising fact that He Himself is present, He speaks to us and gives Himself to us".
Service "means, above all, obedience" said Pope Benedict. "Humanity's temptation is always that of wanting to be completely autonomous, of following only their own will and of insisting that only thus will we be free, that only through such limitless freedom can mankind be fully realised and become divine. Yet it is precisely thus that we run counter to the truth". We are free, the Pope stated, if "we share our freedom with others, ... if we obey the will of God".
Benedict XVI concluded by highlighting how priests "announce not ourselves but Him and His Word. ... Our obedience is believing with the Church, thinking and talking with the Church, serving with her".
At 5.30 p.m. in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Benedict XVI presided at the Mass of the Lord's Supper. During the celebration, imitating the gesture of the Lord towards His Apostles, the Pope washed the feet of 12 priests. At the presentation of the gifts, he was given alms collected for the "Edad de oro" orphanage in Havana, Cuba.
Commenting in his homily on Jesus' gesture of washing His disciples' feet, the Pope dwelt on the need for interior purification as a necessary condition for living in communion with God and our fellows.
"Day after day", he said, "we are, as it were, covered with dirt, with empty words, with prejudices, with watered-down and adulterated wisdom; multiple forms of semi-falsity or open falseness continually infiltrate our inner being. This clouds and contaminates our soul, it threatens us with an incapacity for truth and goodness. If we accept the words of Jesus with an attentive heart, they wash and purify the soul".
The Gospel episode of the washing of the feet invites us "always to let ourselves be washed by that pure water, to allow ourselves to be capable of convivial communion with God and with our brothers and sisters".
"The gift and the example that we find in the story of the washing of the feet are characteristic of the nature of Christianity in general", said the Pope. "Christianity is not some kind of moralism, a system of ethics. ... It is, first and foremost, a gift: God gives Himself to us. He does not give something but gives Himself. ... For this reason, the central act of being Christian is the Eucharist".
We need the 'washing of the feet', the washing away of everyday sins. It is for this that we need the confession of sins". In the Sacrament of Penance "the Lord ever and anew washes our dirty feet so we can sit at table with Him".
Benedict XVI concluded his homily by highlighting how "Easter Thursday calls us to this: not to allow rancour towards others to become, deep down, a poisoning of the soul. It exhorts us to continual purification of memory, forgiving one another from the heart, washing one another's feet, thus to be able to go together to God's banquet".
BXVI-HOLY WEEK/HOLY THURSDAY/... VIS 20080326 (890)
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