Holy Thursday at Rebibbia

At 5:00pm today, local time in Rome, Pope Francis travelled to the Rebibbia New Complex prison in Rome and at 5:30pm, he celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper in the church of Padre Nostro, thus beginning the Pascal Triduum.  During tonight's Mass, he washed the feet of some of the prisoners from that prison and from a nearby prison for women.

Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

for the Mass of the Lord's Supper

This Thursday, Jesus is at table with the disciples, celebrating the feast of Passover. The passage of the Gospel that we have heard speaks a word that is precisely at the centre of what Jesus did for all of us: He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. (Jn 13:2). Jesus loved us. Jesus loves us, but without limits, always to the end. The love Jesus has for us has no limits, it is always more. He never tires of loving anyone. He loves all of us to the point of giving His life. Yes, He gives his life for all of us, He gives his life for each one of us. And each one of us can say: He gave His life for me. He gave his life for you, for you, for you, for me for each one of us, with our first and last names, because His love is like that: personally.

The love of Jesus never deceives because he never tires of loving; since He also never tires of forgiving, He never tires of embracing us. This is the first thing I wanted to tell you: Jesus loved each one of you to the end.

And then He did something that the disciples did not understand: He washed their feet. At that time, it was common practice; it was customary because the people, when they would arrive at a house, their feet were dirty with dust from the road. There weren't any Sampietrini (stone pavements) in that time!

And at the entrance to the house, they would wash their feet. But it was not done by the head of the household; it was done by the slaves. It was the work of slaves. And Jesus cleans our feet, the feet of the disciples, like a slave. And He says to them: What I am doing, you do not understand now, he says to Peter, but you will understand later (Jn 13:7).

Jesus, has so much love that He made Himself a slave in order to serve us, to heal us, to cleanse us. And today, during this Mass, the Church wants the priest to wash the feet of 12 persons, in memory of the 12 disciples. But in our heart, we must have the certainty, we must be sure that the Lord, when he washes our feet, He washes everything, He purifies us! He makes us feel His love once again.

In the Bible there is a sentence from the prophet Isaiah that is very beautiful. It says: Can a mother forget her own child? Though a mother may forget her child, I will not forget you! (Is. 49:15) That is how the love of God is for us.

And I will wash today the feet of 12 of you, but in these brothers and sisters, there are all of you. Everyone, everyone! All those who live here. You represent them, but I also have a need to be cleansed by the Lord. And for this, I ask you to pray during this Mass so that the Lord may also cleanse my filth, so that I may become more your slave, more of a slave in the service of people, like Jesus was. Now, we will begin the next part of the ceremony.