![]() When the Entrance Chant is concluded, the Priest and the faithful, standing, sign themselves with the Sign of the Cross, while the Priest, facing the people, says: Then, with the ministers, he goes to the chair. When he has arrived at the altar, after making a profound bow with the ministers, the Priest venerates the altar with a kiss and, if appropriate, incenses the cross and the altar. When the people are gathered, the Priest approaches the altar with the ministers while the Entrance Chant is sung. Let us follow this ceremony with the desire to serve and forgive.1. ![]() There is One who judges, but he is a rather strange Judge, the Lord: He judges and forgives. This is a sign, also a sign of love for these brothers and sisters and for all of you, here a sign that says: “I judge no one. Clericalism sometimes takes us along this path. I do it with care because we priests should be the first to serve others, not to take advantage of them. We are the ones who grow tired of asking for forgiveness.Īnd now, I will try to imitate Jesus’ gesture: washing feet. And how much does he forgive? Everything! And until what point? Always! He does not tire of forgiving. Serving, helping one another and being certain that the Lord forgives. This is the thought I would like to leave you today. He paid the price like this, with forgiveness. I will seek to serve others, but You serve me with Your forgiveness”. This is a beautiful prayer for today: “But, Lord, forgive me. You can do it when you are alone, when you are with others, when you are with the priest. All he wants is our trust to ask for forgiveness. ![]() But ask Jesus for forgiveness: He forgives everything. Each of us, perhaps, has something there in our heart which we have been carrying for some time, which goes “ron-ron”, some skeleton hidden in the closet. I would like this to reach the hearts of all of us today, including my own: God forgives everything and God forgives always! We are the ones who grow tired of asking for forgiveness. Serving! And then, the heart of Jesus, which says to the traitor: “Friend”, and even waits for him, until the end: He forgives everything. It is important rather, to do everything without interest: one serves the other, one is the other’s brother, one makes the other grow, one encourages the other, and that is how we must make things progress. And we, many times in life seek our own interest, as if we charged each other a fee. This causes harm, because it is not good. How beautiful it would be if this were possible to do every day and to all people, but there is always interest, which is like a snake that enters.Īnd we are scandalised when we say: “I went to that public office, they made me pay a fee”. This is the symbol: among you, you must serve each other one serves the other, without interest. That’s how Jesus is, and he teaches us this, simply: you must wash each other’s feet. ![]() And then, Jesus - with a gesture that also touches the heart - washes the feet of the traitor, the one who sells him. Jesus washes the feet of his disciples - he has done a strange thing: at that time, feet were washed by slaves at the entrance to the house. Jesus, with his friends, his disciples, is at supper, the Passover supper. Every Holy Thursday we read this Gospel passage: it is a simple thing. ![]()
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