"Wearing Christ": this is, said the Pope in the homily at Maundy Thursday Mass, the "event" which "is acted out over and over again at every Holy Mass by wearing the liturgical vestments". At the time of the priestly Ordination, in particular, "the Church made this reality of the ‘new clothes’ visible and comprehensible even on the outside, by being dressed in the liturgical vestments. In this outer gesture, the Church wants to show us the inner event and the task that is entrusted to us through such event: dressing Christ; giving oneself up to Him as He gave Himself up to us". Wearing the liturgical vestments, according to the Pope, "must be more than just an outer gesture: it means entering, over and over again, into the ‘yes’ of our task into that ‘no longer myself’ of Baptism, that the priestly Ordination gives us in a fresh manner and at the same time asks of us. The fact we are at the altar, dressed in the liturgical vestments, must clearly show to those present that we are there ‘on behalf of someone Else’". From this perspective, explained Benedict XVI, "the priestly vestments are a deep, symbolic expression of what priesthood means": hence the subject of the Pope’s homily, which intends "to explain the essence of priesthood by interpreting the liturgical vestments".
