Home > Church > 2014-04-17 20:51:14
 Pope Francis: 'Serve one another in love' (Vatican
Radio) In a gesture of humility and service, and in imitation of
Christ, Pope Francis put on an apron and knelt down to wash the feet of
12 patients at a long-term care facility, during the Missa In Coena
Domini, or the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, on Thursday evening. Visibly fatigued and requiring assistance to kneel and stand up again as he came close to the end of the rite, Pope Francis conveyed tenderness and concern for each person, pouring water on each person’s foot, then drying it and kissing it, before offering a loving gaze, sometimes reciprocated, depending on each person’s state of health. The patients ranged in age from 16 to 86, and all suffer from a variety disabilities. All of them are Italian (though three were of a different ethnic origin), including one Muslim man. The Mass was celebrated in Italian in the chapel of the Santa Maria della Provvidenza Centre, one of more than two dozen healthcare facilities, run by the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation. It reflected the character of the healthcare centre and of the local Christian community, with the centre’s usual Sunday choir, consisting of patients, volunteers and staff, singing popular Italian hymns. Many of the centre’s patients sat in their wheelchairs in the front rows of the assembly. The Mass, which recalls Christ’s last Passover meal with this Apostles, his washing of their feet in a gesture of service, and the institution of the Eucharist, begins the Easter Triduum. The Pope’s selection of the location and his gesture of washing the feet of 12 people with disability was intended to underline the forms of fragility, in which the Christian community is called to recognize the suffering Christ and to which it must devote attention, solidarity and charity. In his brief homily, the Pope recalled that God made himself a servant in Christ and that this is the inheritance of all believers. Christ came to love and his followers, in turn, “need to be servants in love”. Speaking extemporaneously, he said to wash the feet of another was, in Jesus’ time, the task of the slave or the servant of the house. In executing this gesture, Jesus tells his followers that they are called to be servants to each other. “Everyone here must think of others… and how we can serve others better,” he said. At the end of the Mass, the Pope carried the Blessed Sacrament to an Altar of Repose. He remained there in prayer until the end of the Pange Lingue hymn, after which he processed out of the chapel in the usual silence with which the Holy Thursday evening liturgy concludes. This is the second year the Pope celebrates the Mass of the Lord’s Last Supper among a group of people usually marginalized by society. Last year, the Pope celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Last Supper at a youth detention centre. Listen to the report by Laura Ieraci:   |
Thursday, April 17, 2014
THE EVENING MASS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
Well the music is, well what most parishes have in Italy and here. But it is the thought that counts.
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7 comments:
I never thought I'd say this, but having someone hit a triangle on every beat throughout each hymn really helped stop the congregation dragging. A neat idea!
Surely the triangle should have been silent after the Gloria?
But then I'm talking about liturgy. This was ... well, least said, soonest mended.
I really thought that when I recently asked where the "unsubscribe" button was, I'd get some immediate response and assistance. It makes me feel really warm and fuzzy that I got no replies at all....that I am so beloved, respected and valued here. Thank you dear friends. Don't worry. I'll NEVER leave you.
John, yep, and Maundatumgate II should not have happened either.
And again washing the feet of women and an "infidel" Muslim. P.S. I was under the impression he could not kneel, very interesting.
The trouble is, if he does this every year and reigns for another ten, his successor may feel duty bound to continue the practice (Benedict didn't reinstate the sedia gestatoria, although it was only his immediate predecessor who refused to use it).
Will Francis's successor dare to appear on the balcony wearing the mozzetta and papal stole, risking the accusation of being either reactionary or 'princely'? Incidentally the latter might be a pejorative epithet in a banana republic like Argentina, but for those of us who are fortunate enough to have a monarchy it has more positive connotations.
"Will Francis's successor dare to appear on the balcony wearing the mozzetta and papal stole"
Of course they will. One day Francis will be dead. And there is nothing deader than a dead pope.
One thing this radical papacy has done has empowered Traditionally minded Catholics. No more are we going to fade into the background and try and get along with modernists. We are now empowered the way liberals are. Francis did not hesitate from the first second to throw away everything and basically insult Traditional Catholics every day. So do you think if a strong conservative man is the next pope, if there is one (but that's another topic), would hesitate? I for one would come out on that balcony already wearing the papal tiara and the modernists be dammed. That is what Francis is saying to Catholics who really believe.
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