This evening in Rome, Pope Francis celebrated the Mass of
the Lord’s Supper in a prison—a youth prison actually. what a powerful reminder to the convicted
criminal, and to all of us, that God enters into our life, with all of our
sins, all of our regrets, to offer mercy—that even in prison, a man can know
the freedom that comes from God’s mercy.
He’s certainly not the first Pope to visit a prison, Pope
Benedict celebrated Mass in this same prison in 2007.
Some of you may remember when Pope John Paul II visited a
prison—he visited the the Muslim man who attempted to assassinate him on May
13, 1981. When John Paul II was entering
Saint Peter’s square on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, he was shot and seriously
wounded by a Turkish man named Mehmet Ali Agca.
While he was being rushed into the ambulance, it is said that John Paul
verbally forgave his assassin, and while in his hospital bed asked the Church to pray for Ali Agca. Several months later, John Paul personally
visited Ali Agca in prison offering once again, his personal forgiveness.
What a beautiful image of mercy. In a world with so many stories of hatred and
violence, where petty differences, grudges and resentments, corrode so many
friendships and marriages, Blessed John Paul gives us this wonderful example of
Christian mercy.
So what a fitting gesture for Pope Francis this evening to
visit this Roman Prison, to announce Christ’s Mercy available to all.
For Divine Mercy poured out in abundance is at the heart of
everything we celebrate this evening and the next three days. Divine Mercy offered to you, and to me, and
even the most hardened sinner. Divine
Mercy which breaks in to our prisons, Divine Mercy raising us up out of the
chains of our sins, promising us freedom from the hostile powers of darkness, Divine Mercy offering us eternal life.
Jesus said to Peter in this evening’s Gospel,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me” reminding us of a
similar conversation with Nicodemus: “unless you
are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.””
For let’s not forget about what these sacred days are about,
Jesus lays down his life in self-sacrifice, that we may be washed clean of our
sins, and have eternal life.
After the homily at this evening Mass, the priest celebrant will
perform the washing of feet a reminder of how divine mercy has been poured out
on us in baptism, and will be poured out on those preparing for baptism at the Easter
Vigil.
We also heard in the Gospel how Jesus gave the great mandate
to his disciples, “as I have done for you, you
should also do”
This command can be understood on many levels. Firstly, that of humble service. Jesus, did the job of a lowly servant, doing
the dirtiest job there was at a supper, washing the feet of the dinner
guests. The third grader’s often offer a
giggle when I tell them that we need to wash each other’s feet, meaning, doing
the jobs for each other that no one wants to do, we need to go out of our way
to humbly serve those in need.
One of the spiritual diseases of our modern day is that
attitude of entitlement, acting as if others need to bow down and wash my feet
because I’m so great and so hard a worker.
Rather, the opposite is true, the medicine we need is to consider
ourselves the slaves and servants of others.
Yes, this command is about humble service modeled after the
Lord’s own humble service. But on a another
level, as the Lord was telling Peter that the washing of his feet symbolizes
forgiveness of his sins, we need to make sure that we are seeking to rid our
lives and our hearts of everything that estranges us from God and one another—our
self-absorption, self-centeredness, and selfish attitudes and behaviors.
Finally, Jesus’ command at the last supper, to love one
another as Jesus loves us points to what he will accomplish tomorrow, on Good
Friday. He goes to the cross for us, he
suffers the greatest imaginable suffering for us, and he says, okay, now you
must do the same for each other. This is
the part that makes us squirm in our seats.
Many find humble service to be very rewarding, most find
forgiveness to be just the remedy for a damaged relationship, but the command
to suffer for others, to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, to suffer that
others may have faith, well, there’s the hard part isn’t it?
At the Last Supper, Jesus gave us three gifts. He gave us the model to follow in loving,
humble service. Secondly, he gave us the
Eucharist. What an act of divine mercy! Knowing that he was to die, he gave us
the Eucharist that he may remain present to the Church for all time. Thirdly, at the last supper, he gave the
Church the first ordained priests.
Priests, to be bearers of Divine Mercy, priests to bring Christ’s presence
to us, priests to call us out of the prisons of our selfishness and into lives
of humble service, priests to absolve our sins, to celebrate the Eucharist, to
guide our spiritual lives.
In his homily this evening from the youth prison, Pope
Francis said the washing of feet is a symbol, this sign, of his priestly service--that he and all priests are at the service of Christ's flock. He said, “But it is a duty that comes from my heart
and a duty that I love; I love doing it because this is what the Lord has
taught me.”
I now invite those who have been chosen to come forward for
the washing of their feet. as a reminder
of us all to lay down our lives in humble service, to seek to be free from all
that keeps us from loving God and our neighbor as we should, and to witness to
the pouring out of Divine Love upon the world through Christ’s own self-giving,
for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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