Scottish Catholic Observer

In the humble act of washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus is showing all Christians how he wants us to serve others with love, Pope Francis said at Holy Thursday Mass last night.

During the evening Mass at a rehabilitation facility on the outskirts of Rome, Pope Francis washed the feet of four women and eight men who are living with disabilities.

“This is the legacy that Jesus leaves us,” and he wants it to be passed down through people’s loving service to others, the Pope said.

Ranging in ages from 16 to 86, nine of the 12 patients were Italian, one was a Muslim from Libya, one was a woman from Ethiopia and one young man was from Cape Verde.

Two sisters helped patients, all of them with limited mobility, remove their shoes and socks. The Pope then knelt on both knees on a small cushion before each person. He poured water from a small silver pitcher over each person’s foot; some feet were greatly swollen due to the individual’s medical condition.

With a white towel, he dried each foot and kissed it, often having to bend onto the floor to reach the feet of those who were completely paralysed.

Two aides assisted the Pope in kneeling and standing back up, which proved increasingly difficult as the 77-year-old Pope made his way across the chapel to serve all 12 patients. Yet, before rising, he gave each one of them a long and loving gaze and broad smile.

Jesus’ gesture was like a parting gift and ‘in inheritance’ that he left out of love, the Pope said during the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper celebrated at the Father Carlo Gnocchi Foundation’s Our Lady of Providence Centre.

“You, too, must love each other, be servants in love,” he said in a brief homily, which he delivered off the cuff.

He asked people to think of ways ‘how we can serve others better—that’s what Jesus wanted from us.’

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