![]() The table from which he wishes no one to be excluded. The Lord tells us this clearly with a sign: he washes our feet so we can come back to the table. It is painful when we see people who think that only others need to be cleansed, purified, and do not recognize that their weariness, pain and wounds are also the weariness, pain and wounds of society. It is painful when we see prison systems which are not concerned to care for wounds, to soothe pain, to offer new possibilities. The Lord goes in search of us to all of us he stretches out a helping hand. All of us are being sought out by the Teacher, who wants to help us resume our journey. All of us need to be cleansed, to be washed. Life means "getting our feet dirty" from the dust-filled roads of life and history. He wants us to keep walking along the paths of life, to realize that we have a mission, and that confinement is not the same thing as exclusion. He wants to help us to set out again, to resume our journey, to recover our hope, to restore our faith and trust. Jesus comes to meet us, so that he can restore our dignity as children of God. Unless I wash your feet, I will not be able to give you the life which the Father always dreamed of, the life for which he created you. Rather, he tells us: "Unless I wash your feet, you have no share with me" (Jn 13:8). He doesn't ask us where we have been, he doesn't question us what about we have done. He wants to heal our wounds, to soothe our feet which hurt from travelling alone, to wash each of us clean of the dust from our journey. ![]() We know in faith that Jesus seeks us out. Life is a journey, along different roads, different paths, which leave their mark on us. That is why we see Jesus washing feet, our feet, the feet of his disciples, then and now. Everyone walked those roads, which left their feet dusty, bruised or cut from those stones. The roads were not paved, they were covered with dust, and little stones would get stuck in your sandals. In those days, it was the custom to wash someone's feet when they came to your home. Even Peter refused, and told him: "You will never wash my feet" (Jn 13:8). This was something his disciples found hard to accept. I think of the Gospel scene where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. I have come so that we can pray together and offer our God everything that causes us pain, but also everything that gives us hope, so that we can receive from him the power of the resurrection. I am here as a pastor, but above all as a brother, to share your situation and to make it my own. Any society, any family, which cannot share or take seriously the pain of its children, and views that pain as something normal or to be expected, is a society "condemned" to remain a hostage to itself, prey to the very things which cause that pain. I know it is a painful time not only for you, but also for your families and for all of society. It is a difficult time, one full of struggles. ![]() Thank you for receiving me and giving me the opportunity to be here with you and to share this time in your lives. PHILADELPHIA - Read the full text of Pope Francis' speech to prisoners at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility near Philadelphia. Pope Francis spoke to inmates inside Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on Sunday morning.
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