Vatican City, 2 April 2015 (VIS) –
This afternoon Pope Francis celebrated Holy Mass “in Coena Domini”
in Rome's Rebibbia penitentiary, where he arrived around 5.15 p.m. He
greeted the authorities, staff and a group of detainees in the prison
courtyard. Shortly before 6 p.m., in the “Padre Nostro” church in
the New Complex of Rebibbia, the Pope presided at the Holy Mass that
begins the Easter Triduum, during which he washed the feet of twelve
detainees, six men and six women from the nearby women's
penitentiary.
In his improvised homily, the Pope
remarked that on a Thursday like today, Jesus was at the table with
His disciples, celebrating the feast of the Passover. “The Gospel
reading we have just heard contains a phrase which is precisely at
the centre of what Jesus did for all of us: 'having loved his own who
were in the world, he loved them to the end'. Jesus loved us. Jesus
loves us. Without limits, always, to the end. … And each one of us
can say, 'He gave His life for me'. … For everyone, name and
surname. This is how His love is: personal. Jesus' love never
disappoints, as He never tires of loving, just as He never tires of
forgiving, of embracing us. This is the first thing I wanted to say
to you: Jesus loved us, each one of us, unto the end”.
“And then, he does what the disciples
did not understand: washing their feet. In that time, it was a
custom, as when people arrived at a house their feet were dirty from
the dust of the road. … But the master of the house did not do
this. It was a task for the slaves. And Jesus, like a slave, washes
our feet, the feet of His disciples, and therefore says to Peter:
'What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterwards you will
understand'. So great is Jesus' love that He made Himself into a
slave to serve us, to heal us, to cleanse us”.
“And today, in this Mass, the Church
wishes for her priest to wash the feet of twelve people, in memory of
the Twelve Apostles. But in our hearts we must be sure that the Lord,
when He washes our feet, washes us entirely, He purifies us, He lets
us feel His love once more. In the Bible there is a beautiful phrase,
from the prophet Isaiah: 'Can a woman forget her nursing child, that
she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may
forget, yet I will not forget you'. This is what God's love for us is
like”.
“And today”, he concluded, “I
will wash the feet of twelve of you, but all of you, all people, are
in these brothers and sisters. You represent them. But I too need to
be washed by the Lord, and therefore pray during this Mass that the
Lord may wash away my impurities, so that I may become more of a
slave than you, more of a slave in the service of the people, as
Jesus was”.
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