The celebration of the mass in Coena Domini, on Holy Thursday, was presided over by Bishop Francesco Antonio Soddu inside the Terni prison, and it is the second year that this has happened.
The mass was concelebrated by the prison chaplain Father Massimo Lelli, by the deacon Ideale Piantoni, in the presence of the supervisory magistrate Fabio Gianfilippi, the director of the prison Luca Sardella, the commander of the Penitentiary Police Fabio Gallo, the volunteers, trainers and operators who they commit themselves to prison.
During the celebration the bishop repeated the gesture of washing the feet of ten prisoners.
«In this celebration we remember the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper – said Mgr. Soddu to the prisoners –. Last but first, because it is the beginning of something that involves everyone and that is always repeated: mutual service, the donation of life for each other. From this gift comes what we always dream of: liberation and peace. To the extent that we let Jesus enter our hearts, our life is transformed and reborn. We ask the Lord for the ability to be available to welcome him into our hearts and bring him into our existence, he who gave his life for us, so that we become capable of giving it to others.
The gesture of foot washing is not a gesture of courtesy, but it is a profound gesture of donation, a gesture of love. And we all need gestures of love. If love is missing there is nothing left in life, but only hatred, abuse, conflict. By following the teachings of the Gospel, the profound sense of peace and reconciliation that we all need will appear, abandoning selfishness, self-centeredness and what weighs down life, to be able to become neighbors with the gifts that Jesus gives us and open ourselves to hope, because what has died within us, with the help of Jesus, can be reborn to new life.”
The bishop was given a pectoral cross made by the prisoners of Casal del Marmo and Rebibbia as part of the Cross of Hope project promoted by the General Inspectorate of Chaplains, for all bishops involved in prison pastoral care.
