Pope Francis asked the priests “not to be scandalized by moralistic, legal, clerical discussions and controversies” every time they want to do good, during the Chrism Mass with which the so-called Easter Triduum opens and with which the Holy Triduum begins rites of Holy Week.
Francisco returned to celebrate this mass that is celebrated at the beginning of Holy Week and that last year was postponed by the pandemic to another date, but today he will not celebrate the “Coena domini” of Holy Thursday with the washing of the feet because, although there is no confirmation from the Vatican, he obeys a medical recommendation so that he does not get too tired due to his sciatica problems and before the next rites.
Due to the pandemic, the pope celebrated this mass in the central apse of the basilica, the so-called chair of Saint Peter, a smaller place than the central altar since only about 300 people were present, with masks, and who were taken the temperature before entering the basilica, rather than the tens of thousands who used to attend these events.
In addition to the nearly 40 cardinals present, about 75 priests also attended, the majority from the diocese of Rome, since this Mass commemorates the institution of the sacrament of priestly order by Jesus Christ during the Last Supper and is dedicated to the renewal of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
During the mass the priests renewed the priestly promises and Francis also blessed the three silver amphoras with the oils of the catechumens, the one for the sick and the chrism, which are used during the year for baptisms, confirmations and anointing of the sick.
In his homily, Francis reminded priests that “the proclamation of the Gospel is always linked to the embrace of a specific cross. The meek light of the Word generates clarity in well-disposed hearts, and confusion and rejection in those who are not,” he said.
“All this makes us see that the announcement of the Good News is mysteriously linked to persecution and the Cross,” he asserted.
Although he stated that “there is a cross in the proclamation of the Gospel, it is true, but it is a Cross that saves” and “it is a Cross with the force of Christ’s victory that overcomes evil, that frees us from the Evil One.”
“Embracing her with Jesus and like Him,” from before “going out to preach, allows us to discern and reject the poison of scandal with which the devil will want to poison us when a cross unexpectedly comes into our life,” he warned.
To the priests, Francis recalled: “We were not scandalized because Jesus was not scandalized when he saw that his joyful announcement of salvation to the poor did not resonate pure, but in the midst of the shouts and threats of those who did not want to hear his Word.”
“We are not scandalized because Jesus was not scandalized when he had to heal the sick and free prisoners in the midst of the moralistic, legal, clerical discussions and controversies that arose every time he did good,” he added.
In his homily, the pontiff confessed that “in a very dark moment” in his life, he asked the Lord for a grace to “free me from a difficult and difficult situation” and that a nun told him: he will give grace, but make no mistake: he will give it to you in his divine way”.
“This did me a lot of good: to feel that the Lord always gives us what we ask for, but he does it in his divine way. This mode involves the cross. Not out of masochism, but out of love, out of love to the end”, he concluded.
He also joked when he apologized for doing “family advertising” by citing some reflections of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, to whom the pope belongs.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis will return, like last year, to officiate all the rites of the Week inside Saint Peter’s Basilica and with the presence of few faithful, while the traditional Stations of the Cross will not be in the Colosseum, but, again, in a deserted square, reported the Holy See.