Pope Benedict’s Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday urging Christians to imitate Christ’s gestures of his eyes and hands as he breaks the bread at the institution of the Eucharist. The evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper in St. John Lateran Basilica followed the morning Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with the priests and clergy of his diocese of Rome.
During the Mass of the Lord's Supper, Pope Benedict washed the feet of 12 priests from the Diocese of Rome. The traditional ritual reflected the call to imitate Christ by serving one another and forgiving each other. The pope poured water from a golden pitcher onto the foot of each priest, gently rubbing them dry with a white towel. Donations collected during the Mass were earmarked for helping support the Catholic community in the Gaza Strip.
In his homily at St. John Lateran Basilica, the pope noted that while commemorating the Last Supper, "The praying Church gazes upon the hands and eyes of the Lord." "It is as if she wants to observe him, to perceive the form of his praying and acting in that remarkable hour, she wants to encounter the figure of Jesus even, as it were, through the senses,” he said. He invited Christians to “look at those hands with which he healed men and women; the hands with which he blessed babies; the hands that he laid upon men; the hands that were nailed to the Cross and that forever bear the stigmata as signs of his readiness to die for love." “The Lord teaches us to raise our eyes," said Pope Benedict, "and especially our hearts." He added, "He teaches us to fix our gaze upwards, detaching it from the things of this world, to direct ourselves in prayer towards God and thus to raise ourselves." The Pope exhorted his listeners to pray "that no evil will enter through our eyes, falsifying and tainting our very being." Pray, he said, "for eyes that see whatever is true, radiant and good; so that they become capable of seeing God's presence in the world." "Let us pray that we will look upon the world with eyes of love," he added, "with the eyes of Jesus, recognizing our brothers and sisters who need our help, who are awaiting our word and our action."
Pope Benedict also noted that "the breaking of the bread is the act of the father of the family who looks after his children and gives them what they need for life." By dividing and sharing the bread, unity and communion are created, too, he said. Through the Eucharist, Jesus is giving the nourishment people deeply long for - communion with God himself, he said. The Eucharist in the liturgy is complete when it "becomes love in daily life," said the pope. "Experiencing the Lord's love in the act of worship and fostering love for one's neighbour" become the same in Christian worship, he said. The chalice of wine, Pope Benedict point out, shows "the Eucharist is more than a meal; it is a wedding feast" in which God gives the gift of himself even in his death. In the New Testament, God creates "a new and everlasting covenant in order to express the indissolubility of God's nuptial bond with humanity," he added.Pope Benedict concluded his homily with a prayer: "Lord, today you give us your life, you give us yourself. Enter deeply within us with your love. Make us live in your “today”. Make us instruments of your peace! Amen."