Apr 6, 2025 Written by 

«Feet» to be reached

The supper at Bethany is one of the most beautiful and moving passages in John's Gospel.

Mary sprinkles Jesus' feet with a pound of highly perfumed spikenard oil, which Jesus accepts as a foreshadowing of his burial. Onlookers are scandalised by the 'waste'.

Francis of Assisi, thinking of the Passion and death of Jesus, mourned the unloved Love in every way; in every place and person.

He recognised him especially in the poor and derelict, in the lepers kept on the margins of society - and among them he poured out the perfume of Charity without which we are only tinkling cymbals.

The Sources help us look for and spot episodes that depict this washing of Jesus' feet and perfuming them in the abandoned and rejected.

"Loving every form of humility, she moved in with the lepers, staying with them and serving them all with great care.

He washed their feet, bandaged sores, removed the rot from sores and cleansed them of purulence.

He would also, driven by admirable devotion, kiss their festering wounds, he who would soon become the Good Samaritan of the Gospel" (FF 1045).

The Minim sprinkled with compassion and love the feet of those wounded by life and anointed them with the oil of consolation.

His thoughtful humility was evidenced by the way he placed himself at everyone's feet.

"One day mounted on a donkey, because weak and infirm he could not go on foot, he crossed the field of a farmer, who was working.

The latter ran up to him and asked him thoughtfully if he was Brother Francis. He humbly replied that he was the one he was looking for:

"See," said the peasant, "that you are as good as everyone says you are, for many have confidence in you. That is why I urge you never to behave differently from what you hope".

Francis, at these words, dismounted from the donkey and, prostrating himself before the farmer, several times kissed his feet humbly thanking him that he had deigned to admonish him" (FF 726).

Standing at the feet of every creature, the Poverello exhaled "the waste" of that charity, the preventer and healer of all evil.

So was Clare, sprinkling the special ointment of Love that aims to heal and resurrect those who lie in human forgetfulness.

The «feet» in the Franciscan path, are a place of encounter, of loving exchange, of nakedness that all awaits from every creature of good will.

The feet of the humble, of the poor, of the sick were for Francis and Clare the crucified feet of the Son of God, nailed to the cross so that we might all walk towards one another.

 

«Mary then took a pound of genuine spikenard perfume of great value, anointed the feet of Jesus and dried his feet with her hair. Now the House was filled with the fragrance of the perfume» (Jn 12:3)

 

 

Holy Monday  (Jn 12:1-11)

136 Last modified on Sunday, 06 April 2025 04:14
Teresa Girolami

Teresa Girolami è laureata in Materie letterarie e Teologia. Ha pubblicato vari testi, fra cui: "Pellegrinaggio del cuore" (Ed. Piemme); "I Fiammiferi di Maria - La Madre di Dio in prosa e poesia"; "Tenerezza Scalza - Natura di donna"; co-autrice di "Dialogo e Solstizio".

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The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' act of self-oblation. More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving [Pope Benedict]
L'Eucaristia ci attira nell'atto oblativo di Gesù. Noi non riceviamo soltanto in modo statico il Logos incarnato, ma veniamo coinvolti nella dinamica della sua donazione [Papa Benedetto]
Jesus, the true bread of life that satisfies our hunger for meaning and for truth, cannot be “earned” with human work; he comes to us only as a gift of God’s love, as a work of God (Pope Benedict)
Gesù, vero pane di vita che sazia la nostra fame di senso, di verità, non si può «guadagnare» con il lavoro umano; viene a noi soltanto come dono dell’amore di Dio, come opera di Dio (Papa Benedetto)
Jesus, who shared his quality as a "stone" in Simon, also communicates to him his mission as a "shepherd". It is a communication that implies an intimate communion, which also transpires from the formulation of Jesus: "Feed my lambs... my sheep"; as he had already said: "On this rock I will build my Church" (Mt 16:18). The Church is property of Christ, not of Peter. Lambs and sheep belong to Christ, and to no one else (Pope John Paul II)
Gesù, che ha partecipato a Simone la sua qualità di “pietra”, gli comunica anche la sua missione di “pastore”. È una comunicazione che implica una comunione intima, che traspare anche dalla formulazione di Gesù: “Pasci i miei agnelli… le mie pecorelle”; come aveva già detto: “Su questa pietra edificherò la mia Chiesa” (Mt 16,18). La Chiesa è proprietà di Cristo, non di Pietro. Agnelli e pecorelle appartengono a Cristo, e a nessun altro (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)
Praying, celebrating, imitating Jesus: these are the three "doors" - to be opened to find «the way, to go to truth and to life» (Pope Francis)
Pregare, celebrare, imitare Gesù: sono le tre “porte” — da aprire per trovare «la via, per andare alla verità e alla vita» (Papa Francesco)
In recounting the "sign" of bread, the Evangelist emphasizes that Christ, before distributing the food, blessed it with a prayer of thanksgiving (cf. v. 11). The Greek term used is eucharistein and it refers directly to the Last Supper, though, in fact, John refers here not to the institution of the Eucharist but to the washing of the feet. The Eucharist is mentioned here in anticipation of the great symbol of the Bread of Life [Pope Benedict]
Narrando il “segno” dei pani, l’Evangelista sottolinea che Cristo, prima di distribuirli, li benedisse con una preghiera di ringraziamento (cfr v. 11). Il verbo è eucharistein, e rimanda direttamente al racconto dell’Ultima Cena, nel quale, in effetti, Giovanni non riferisce l’istituzione dell’Eucaristia, bensì la lavanda dei piedi. L’Eucaristia è qui come anticipata nel grande segno del pane della vita [Papa Benedetto]
Work is part of God’s loving plan, we are called to cultivate and care for all the goods of creation and in this way share in the work of creation! Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. Work, to use a metaphor, “anoints” us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God, who has worked and still works, who always acts (cf. Jn 5:17); it gives one the ability to maintain oneself, one’s family, to contribute to the growth of one’s own nation [Pope Francis]
Il lavoro fa parte del piano di amore di Dio; noi siamo chiamati a coltivare e custodire tutti i beni della creazione e in questo modo partecipiamo all’opera della creazione! Il lavoro è un elemento fondamentale per la dignità di una persona [Papa Francesco]

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