As Jesus washed our feet, let us serve others, Pope preaches at Holy Thursday evening Mass
April 02, 2026
Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the Lateran Basilica this evening (video) and reflected on Christ’s act of washing the feet of His apostles.
“The washing of the feet is a gesture that encapsulates the revelation of God: an exemplary sign of the Word made flesh, his unmistakable memorial,” Pope Leo preached. By taking on the condition of a servant, the Son reveals the Father’s glory, overturning the worldly standards that so often distort our conscience.”
The Pope continued:
We are always tempted to seek a God who “serves” us, who grants us victory, who proves useful like wealth or power. Yet we fail to perceive that God does indeed serve us through the gratuitous and humble gesture of washing feet. This is the true omnipotence of God. In this way, his desire to devote himself to those whose very existence depends upon his gift is fulfilled.
Out of love, the Lord kneels to wash each one of us, and his divine gift transforms us. Indeed, through this act, Jesus purifies not only our image of God—from the idolatry and blasphemy that have distorted it—but also our image of humanity. For we tend to consider ourselves powerful when we dominate, victorious when we destroy our equals, great when we are feared.
In contrast, as true God and true man, Christ offers us the example of self-giving, service and love. We need his example to learn how to love, not because we are incapable of it, but precisely to teach ourselves and one another what true love is. Learning to act like Jesus—the living sign that God has placed within the history of the world—is the work of a lifetime.
“The Lord’s love precedes our own goodness or purity; he loves us first, and in that love, he forgives and restores us,” Pope Leo added. “His love is not a reward for our acceptance of his mercy; instead, he loves us, and therefore cleanses us, thereby enabling us to respond to his love. Let us, then, learn from Jesus this reciprocal service. He does not ask us to repay him, but to share his gift among ourselves: ‘You also ought to wash one another’s feet’ (Jn 13:14).”
The Pope explained:
In him, God has given us an example—not of how to dominate, but of how to liberate; not of how to destroy life, but of how to give it. As humanity is brought to its knees by so many acts of brutality, let us too kneel down as brothers and sisters alongside the oppressed.
After recalling the institution of the Sacraments of Holy Orders and the Eucharist—and quoting from the Council of Trent and the Second Vatican Council—Pope Leo concluded:
Holy Thursday is therefore a day of fervent gratitude and authentic fraternity. May this evening’s Eucharistic adoration, in every parish and community, be a time to contemplate Jesus’ gesture, kneeling as he did, and to ask for the strength to imitate his service with the same love.
Pope Leo celebrated the Mass in Italian, with Latin chants. After his homily, he washed the feet of twelve priests.
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