Benedict XVI celebrates 'in coena Domini' Mass. As he prays on the Mount of Olives, Jesus accepts his father's will, facing death with human fear, seeing "the filthy flood of all the lies and all the disgrace which he will encounter in that chalice from which he must drink." He "sees me" and "prays for me." Pope devotes today's collection to humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees.

Rome (AsiaNews) - Man is really free only if he follows his own will, free from God's will. "This is the fundamental rebellion present throughout history and the fundamental lie which perverts life.  When human beings set themselves against God, they set themselves against the truth of their own being and consequently do not become free, but alienated from themselves. We are free only if we stand in the truth of our being, if we are united to God."

On Holy Thursday, the Missa in coena Domini, the Mass of Our Lord's Supper, marks the start of the Paschal Triduum, and reminds us of the institution of the Eucharist, as well as the prayer on the Mount of Olives when Jesus told the Father, "yet not what I want, but what you want".

In celebrating the Missa in coena Domini in the Basilica of St John Lateran, Rome's cathedral, Benedict XVI focused on Jesus' prayer. The rite highlights the main events of that night, including the "washing of feet", which the pope performed on 12 priests from his diocese.

During the Mass, when offerings were presented, the pope received the collection whose proceeds will go for humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees.

 "Holy Thursday," Benedict XVI said, "is not only the day of the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, whose splendour bathes all else and in some ways draws it to itself. To Holy Thursday also belongs the dark night of the Mount of Olives, to which Jesus goes with his disciples; the solitude and abandonment of Jesus, who in prayer goes forth to encounter the darkness of death; the betrayal of Judas, Jesus' arrest and his denial by Peter; his indictment before the Sanhedrin and his being handed over to the Gentiles, to Pilate."

"Jesus goes forth into the night. Night signifies lack of communication, a situation where people do not see one another. It is a symbol of incomprehension, of the obscuring of truth. It is the place where evil, which has to hide before the light, can grow. Jesus himself is light and truth, communication, purity and goodness. He enters into the night. Night is ultimately a symbol of death, the definitive loss of fellowship and life. Jesus enters into the night in order to overcome it and to inaugurate the new Day of God in the history of humanity.

In that moment, Jesus wants three disciples with him: Peter, James and John. However, they "quickly fell asleep. Yet they heard some fragments of the words of Jesus' prayer and they witnessed his way of acting. Both were deeply impressed on their hearts and they transmitted them to Christians for all time. Jesus called God "Abba". The word means-as they add - "Father". Yet it is not the usual form of the word "father", but rather a children's word-an affectionate name, which one would not have dared to use in speaking to God. It is the language of the one who is truly a "child", the Son of the Father, the one who is conscious of being in communion with God, in deepest union with him."

"Jesus struggles with the Father. He struggles with himself. And he struggles for us. He experiences anguish before the power of death. First and foremost, this is simply the dread natural to every living creature in the face of death. In Jesus, however, something more is at work. His gaze peers deeper, into the nights of evil. He sees the filthy flood of all the lies and all the disgrace, which he will encounter in that chalice from which he must drink. His is the dread of one who is completely pure and holy as he sees the entire flood of this world's evil bursting upon him. He also sees me, and he prays for me. This moment of Jesus' mortal anguish is thus an essential part of the process of redemption. Consequently, the Letter to the Hebrews describes the struggle of Jesus on the Mount of Olives as a priestly event. In this prayer of Jesus, pervaded by mortal anguish, the Lord performs the office of a priest: he takes upon himself the sins of humanity, of us all, and he brings us before the Father."

"Lastly, we must also pay attention to the content of Jesus' prayer on the Mount of Olives. Jesus says: "Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what you want" (Mk, 14:36). The natural will of the man Jesus recoils in fear before the enormity of the matter. He asks to be spared. Yet as the Son, he places this human will into the Father's will: not I, but you. In this way, he transformed the stance of Adam, the primordial human sin, and thus heals humanity. The stance of Adam was: not what you, O God, have desired; rather, I myself want to be a god. This pride is the real essence of sin. We think we are free and truly ourselves only if we follow our own will. God appears as the opposite of our freedom. We need to be free of him - so we think - and only then will we be free. This is the fundamental rebellion present throughout history and the fundamental lie which perverts life. When human beings set themselves against God, they set themselves against the truth of their own being and consequently do not become free, but alienated from themselves. We are free only if we stand in the truth of our being, if we are united to God. Then we become truly "like God" - not by resisting God, eliminating him, or denying him. In his anguished prayer on the Mount of Olives, Jesus resolved the false opposition between obedience and freedom, and opened the path to freedom. Let us ask the Lord to draw us into this "yes" to God's will, and in this way to make us truly free. Amen.

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