The Holy Father wears a deacon's stole to do this as he did as Archbishop in Argentina!
His homily lasted all of two minutes if that long, like my daily Mass homilies! Mine tonight will last 10 minutes! Rupture already!
As translated by Vatican Radio, the following is an English rendering of Pope Francis' off-the-cuff homily at the Mass of the Lord's Supper (readings), which the new pontiff decided to celebrate in Rome's Casal del Marmo juvenile detention facility:
“This is moving, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. Peter understands nothing. He refuses but Jesus explains to him. Jesus, God did this, and He Himself explains it to the disciples.. ‘Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do’.
It is the example set by Our Lord, it’s important for Him to wash their feet, because among us the one who is highest up must be at the service of others. This is a symbol, it is a sign – washing your feet means I am at your service. And we are too, among each other, but we don’t have to wash each other’s feet each day. So what does this mean? That we have to help each other…sometimes I would get angry with one someone, but we must let it go and if they ask a favor of do it!
Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty, as a priest and bishop I must be at your service. But it is a duty that comes from my heart and a duty I love. I love doing it because this is what the Lord has taught me. But you too must help us and help each other, always. And thus in helping each other we will do good for each other.
Now we will perform the ceremony of the Washing of the Feet and we must each one of us think, Am I really willing to help others? Just think of that. Think that this sign is Christ’s caress, because Jesus came just for this, to serve us, to help us”.
15 comments:
I like the symbolism behind putting on the deacons stole for the mandatum. HOWEVER, would it not have been better to keep with tradition and wear the dalmatic, as previous popes have done and a good number of bishops do? It would have been more in keeping with tradition, while keeping the same symbolism.
History indeed. Not just washing the feet of women, but kissing the feet of a Muslim woman.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/9960168/Pope-washes-feet-of-young-Muslim-woman-prisoner-in-unprecedented-twist-on-Maundy-Thursday.html
I think is a good thing. My concern is that this lesson be made clear that we are not all priests nor to act like, or as, priests. My previous parish washed every foot in the house. Laity abused liturgical gestures, imitating the priest during Mass, etc. We should break down the castes of society, but we should not assume too much.
And as a counter point, the brilliantly witty Eye Of The Tiber website, "Francis To Work Midnight Shift At McDonalds To Help Poor"!
http://www.eyeofthetiber.com
To this Catholic in their early 20's this is a pretty big let down. Just when it seemed the Church was finally starting to come out of the spiritual dark ages with Benedict, this Pope seems to be pushing back into a "double dip recession" deal. Oh well, I have officially decided that I will now be driving 45 minutes to my diocese (of over 1 million Catholics) only Latin Mass.
The Pope does not dress his role so I guess that means I can go comfortably to Mass as well. Traditions or rules mean little any more or so we have been taught. That is the lesson I got from this.
PC garbage, this Pope is going to be divisive and regressive. He will be the Obama of the Catholic Church.
I think the event itself is less comment-worthy than the blogosphere is making it out to be. P(E)BXVI preached love and service constantly, but since he did it under an ornate miter half the Internet's Catholics disregarded his words out of inability to accept the Church's patrimony of physical treasures. Now that Francis is visibly simpler those same folks have decided that plain albs must SURELY mean the papacy is cool again, despite zero change in message. Eyeroll-inducing to say the least.
I'll have to book mark Eye of the Tiber, I never knew the website existed. It, and an increase in attendance at FSSP and SSPX Chapels may be the best things to come out of this Bishopric (not sure we can call it a Papacy until he actual says he's the Pope on a consistent basis).
Well, I suspect the attendance at SSPX and FSSP parishes will increase.
Perhaps Father Z said it best: This [illicit action] by Francis changes nothing. Except our opinion of him.
Fr. Z is a pompous twit.
That being said: The archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, on Saturday read from a document given him by Pope Francis, outlining the speech he (Francis) gave during the pre-conclave General Congregation meetings of the Cardinals.
Cardinal Ortega had been so impressed with the speech he asked the then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio for a copy of the intervention.
Cardinal Ortega received permission from Pope Francis to share the information.
Here is an unofficial translation of the text:
Evangelizing implies Apostolic Zeal
1. – Evangelizing pre-supposes a desire in the Church to come out of herself. The Church is called to come out of herself and to go to the peripheries, not only geographically, but also the existential peripheries: the mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance and indifference to religion, of intellectual currents, and of all misery.
2. – When the Church does not come out of herself to evangelize, she becomes self-referential and then gets sick. (cf. The deformed woman of the Gospel). The evils that, over time, happen in ecclesial institutions have their root in self-referentiality and a kind of theological narcissism. In Revelation, Jesus says that he is at the door and knocks. Obviously, the text refers to his knocking from the outside in order to enter but I think about the times in which Jesus knocks from within so that we will let him come out. The self-referential Church keeps Jesus Christ within herself and does not let him out.
3. – When the Church is self-referential, inadvertently, she believes she has her own light; she ceases to be the mysterium lunae and gives way to that very serious evil, spiritual worldliness (which according to De Lubac, is the worst evil that can befall the Church). It lives to give glory only to one another.
Put simply, there are two images of the Church: Church which evangelizes and comes out of herself, the Dei Verbum religiose audiens et fidente proclamans; and the worldly Church, living within herself, of herself, for herself. This should shed light on the possible changes and reforms which must be done for the salvation of souls.
4. – Thinking of the next Pope: He must be a man who, from the contemplation and adoration of Jesus Christ, helps the Church to go out to the existential peripheries, that helps her to be the fruitful mother, who gains life from “the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing.”
So, then, Ignotus, he stated the obvious about the Church which everyone already knows. I guess it doesn't hurt to be reminded. While we are on it, I can't think of anything more self-referential than the conscious de-constructing of the Liturgy and Catholic identity in favor of a more humanist centered theology...can you? LOL!
Pin/gene - I CAN think of something more self-referential: skipping mass altogether for merely idiosyncratic liturgical preferences.
Hey Ignotus, How about refusing to answer a diret question about your belief in the Real presence and Resurrection,,,LOL! Judging from your history on this Blog, your entire ministry has been self-referential. LOL!
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