Cardinal Tagle to wash feet of
migrants, refugees on Holy Thursday
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| Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila performing the wasing the feet ceremony on Holy Thursday, April 13,2017.- CBCPNEWS |
The Holy Thursday washing of the feet ceremony commemorates
Christ washing the feet of his disciples in a gesture of loving service.
Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of
Manila will wash the feet of migrants and refugees during this week’s Holy
Thursday evening liturgy that commemorates Christ’s washing of the
feet of His disciples.
Cardinal Tagle, who is also President of Caritas
Internationalis, the Church’s worldwide humanitarian confederation, recently
released an Easter message urging men and women of goodwill worldwide to join
the Caritas “Share the Journey” campaign that aims to reach out to migrants,
tackle prejudice by changing perceptions and help people open their hearts and
their minds.
The Caritas “Share the Journey” campaign was launched in
September 2017 with the backing of Pope Francis.
Migrants, refugees, priest
Among those whose feet the cardinal will be washing at
Manila Cathedral are the parents of Joanna Demafelis, the overseas
Filipino worker found dead in a freezer in Kuwait.
There is a foreign Catholic couple who
sought refuge in the Philippines because of religious persecution in their
homeland.
There are also two indigenous environmental refugees,
who fled their homelands because of massive militarization and destruction by
logging and mining companies.
There will also be Father Teresito “Chito” Soganob,
the priest held captive by the Maute terrorist group for almost four months in
Marawi City in the south. The priest’s inclusion in the Holy Thursday
rite is also significant as the Filipino Church is marking the Year of the
Clergy and Consecrated Persons.
Holy Week
The Holy Week that begins with Palm Sunday is the most
solemn period in the Christian calendar that commemorates the last days of
Christ’s life. With Holy Thursday begins what is called the Easter
Triduum, the three days that climaxes into Christianity’s greatest
feast, Easter, or the Resurrection of Jesus from death.
There are two main liturgical events on Holy Thursday:
the Chrism Mass, which is celebrated by the bishop together with
the priests of his diocese, commemorating the institution of the Holy Eucharist
and the priesthood by Jesus at the Last Supper. During the Mass, the
Chrism or the holy oils used in the administration of various sacraments in the
coming year are blessed.
The Mass of the Lord’s Supper, celebrated on
Thursday afternoon or evening, commemorates Jesus washing the feet of his
disciples in a gesture of loving service.
Philippine Church open to suffering bretheren
“This is a new mission for the Philippine Church - opening
our arms to our Christian brethren who suffer persecution in their country,”
the cardinal said.
The migrants’ ministry of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of the Philippines in September 2017 reported that there are about 30
refugees, mostly from Pakistan, who are being cared for by the local
Church.
There are also about 600 refugees and asylum seekers in
the country and majority of them are from Iran, Syria, Pakistan and
Somalia.
In the footsteps of Pope Francis
Meanwhile, Pope Francis will celebrate Holy Thursday’s
evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper in Rome’s “Regina Coeli” prison,
where he will wash the feet of 12 inmates.
Last year, Cardinal Tagle washed the feet of drug addicts,
drug surrenderers, policemen, government officials, volunteers and relatives of
victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. (SOURCE:
CBCPNEWS)
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