Pope Francis has frequently used the phrase “saints next door”, including in his apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate, to refer to holy people who live among us unrecognised.
“Today I would like to be close to priests,” the pope said. “All of them -- from the newly ordained to the pope, we are all priests. We are anointed, anointed by the Lord, anointed to offer the Eucharist, anointed to serve.”
Holy Week liturgies at the Vatican are taking place without the presence of the public this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Around 12 people were present inside the basilica, in addition to the choir who sang a cappella.
The Mass of the Lord’s Supper commemorates Christ’s Passover meal with his apostles the night before he died. The Mass most especially recalls the institution of the Eucharist -- the sacramental gift to the Church of Christ’s Body and Blood, given in the transformation of bread and wine.
“The reality we live today in this liturgy is the Lord, who wants to remain with us in the Eucharist. And we always become tabernacles of the Lord,” Pope Francis said.
“We bear the Lord with us to the point that he himself tells us that if we do not eat his body and drink his blood, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This mystery of the bread and wine of the Lord with us and in us, within us,” he said.
Often at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper the priest washes the feet of some members of the congregation, recalling Christ’s washing of feet at the Last Supper.
This year feet washing was omitted from the liturgy as a precaution to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. However, Pope Francis stressed the significance of this gesture of humility and service in his homily.
“You who are consecrated, I only tell you one thing,” the pope said. “Do not be stubborn, like Peter. Allow your feet to be washed. The Lord is your servant. He is close to you to give you strength, to wash your feet.”
In past years Pope Francis has offered the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at prisons in Rome, washing the feet of the prisoners himself.