Benedict XVI began with "thanksgiving for having given him to us for as many as 27 years as our father and as a firm guide in faith, as a devoted pastor and brave prophet of hope, an indefatigable and passionate witness of God’s love", and recalled "the great devotion with which he celebrated the holy Mysteries and adored the Sacrament of the altar, the centre of his life and of his indefatigable apostolic mission". Then, as he greeted "the many young people who Pope John Paul II used to love with special passion", Benedict XVI lingered on the dinner of Bethany as told by John the Evangelist, the "prelude to Jesus death" as well as the "announcement of Resurrection", in which a gesture has "poignant relevance": that of Mary of Bethany who, at a certain point, "”taken one ounce of scented oil of pure nard rubbed Jesus’ feet and dried them with her hair” (John 12,3). According to the Pope, this "is one of those details of Jesus’ life" which "speaks of the love for Christ, a plentiful, prodigal love, like that ‘very precious’ oil poured onto His feet. A fact that symptomatically outraged Judas the Iscariot: the rationale of love colliding with the rationale of self-interest". (continued)
