Pope at Holy Thursday Mass calls for hatred to be washed away

Published: 2008-03-20

ROME (CNS) -- One's feelings of hatred must be washed away with forgiveness and humble service toward others -- they should never be left to linger long enough to poison the soul, Pope Benedict XVI said. During his March 20 celebration of the Mass of the Lord's Supper, which commemorated Jesus' institution of the Eucharist, the pope reflected on the symbolic meaning of the ritual of the washing of the feet. While the ritual symbolizes the call to imitate Christ by serving one another, it also means people must always and continually offer forgiveness, he said. Through his passion and death on the cross, Jesus died for sins that are "infinitely greater than all the debts others may have with us," the pope said in his homily at Rome's Basilica of St. John Lateran. Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant urges everyone "to not let rancor toward others become, deep down, a poison of the soul."

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