Eucharistic adoration during the Spiritual Exercises of the Pope. Photo: L’osservatore Romano
The third day of the Spiritual Exercises of Pope Francis at the Divine Master in Ariccia on the occasion of Lent is focused on the meditation, “the bread and body, wine and blood.”
The franciscan, Giulio Michelini, responsible of provision, reflected on the Last Supper of Jesus. “To be in the same table means to experience the beauty of being together, and receive that which has been prepared by others as an act of love. The Risen lord himself, according to the evangelist John, had prepared food for his disciples on the lake of Galilee”.
“In the supper of Jesus also emerges from this element: the delivery of part of Judas. But Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, according to the old version of the dinner, does not withdraw his gift, and gives all she had to give: his body and his blood.”
“The Word, the Son had already offered to his divinity (…) and now donates his humanity, that is to say, his flesh, because he was in the flesh, that godhead was such. In this way, Jesus gives all of himself.”
The P. Michelini proposed 3 questions to ponder: the relationship with the food, the unity around the supper, and the forgiveness of sins.
“I wonder if we are truly aware that Jesus, through the shedding of his blood, of truth, with his own life, and not just with words, has said, and given the forgiveness of God.”