John Paul II Overwhelmed at Scene of Last Supper
JERUSALEM, MAR 23 (ZENIT.org).- In the early hours of the morning, for the first time in history, a Roman Pontiff repeated in private the breaking of the bread in the Upper Room of the Cenacle, the very place where Christ ate the Last Supper with his 12 Apostles, and instituted the Eucharist.
It was truly an historic event as, in 1964, Pope Paul VI was not permitted to celebrate Mass in this place. Before the Mass, John Paul II explained its significance: «I have ardently desired to visit this place as a pilgrim to celebrate Mass here, where the Lord, on the night he voluntarily gave himself over to the Passion, instituted the ministerial priesthood and left us his Body and Blood as a memorial of his glorious death.»
During the homily of the concelebration, which included Catholic leaders of the Holy Land and Cardinals and Bishops accompanying him on his pilgrimage, the Holy Father explained that «in a sense, Peter and the Apostles, in the person of their Successors, have come back today to the Upper Room, to profess the unchanging faith of the Church: 'Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.'«
The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the greatest wealth of the Church, the Pope said visibly moved. The Eucharist edifies her, because the «hands that broke bread for the disciples at the Last Supper were to be stretched out on the Cross in order to gather all people to himself in the eternal Kingdom of his Father. Through the celebration of the Eucharist, he never ceases to draw men and women to be effective members of his Body.»
«'Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.' This is the 'mystery of faith' that we proclaim in every celebration of the Eucharist. Jesus Christ, the Priest of the new eternal Covenant, has redeemed the world by his Blood. Risen from the dead, he has gone to prepare a place for us in his Father's house. In the Spirit who has made us God's beloved children, in the unity of the Body of Christ, we await his return with joyful hope.»
At the end of the Mass, the Pope signed the traditional Holy Thursday Letter to Priests for this year, here, in the Cenacle, where Christ instituted the ministerial priesthood. «What better opportunity for this Holy Year?» the Pope said.
As a commemoration of this historic visit of the Pope to the Holy Land, Israel promised to return the Cenacle to the Holy See. Since 1967, it has been the property of the Israeli government, entrusted to the Ministry for Worship. The building, which is regarded as the first seat of the newborn Church, is also an object of pilgrimage for Jews, as they believe that King David is buried here, although there is no archeological evidence to prove it. Indeed, the room where Tradition holds that Jesus washed his disciples' feet today is a synagogue. In the past, it was also used for worship by Muslims.
The cloister that leads to the second floor, where the Cenacle is, at present is a Museum of the Holocaust and a Rabbinical School. The Israeli government now seems disposed to give the Cenacle to Catholics in exchange for Santa Maria Blanca de Toledo, a synagogue that was turned into a Catholic Church. The Franciscans, who are Custodians of the Holy Places, were expelled from here in 1551 by the Ottoman regime. Ever since then, they have been trying to recover it, even appealing to international organizations.
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