The Significance of Jesus' Washing of the Feet
Brethren, today we begin the most sacred Triduum, the greatest Feasts in the life of the Church. Tonight we celebrate the Last Supper with our Lord. The Church then keeps vigil in prayer until midnight. Tomorrow, though Holy Communion that was consecrated on Holy Thursday is distributed, the Mass is not celebrated and the tabernacle is empty. We venerate the Cross, recall the Passion, and experience the silence of the death of our Lord. On Holy Saturday, the Liturgy is not celebrated until the sun sets and we begin the Easter Vigil celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord.
The time has drawn near for Jesus to Glorify God and himself to be glorified by God. But before he left this world he gave us an example for us to follow on the day of the celebration of the feast of the Passover. As we have seen in the first Reading, the Feast of the Passover was to be celebrated every year remembering the passing over of God when he was killing Egyptian first borns, remembering the love God showed to his people. It is on this feast that the Christ established a new covenant between God and his people and gave us a new command, a love command, characterised by humility and service for others. He did this by his act of washing the feet of his disciples something unheard of for a master to wash the feet of his slaves. It was the work of the slaves to wash the feet of their masters but Jesus turned this upside down teaching us a great and important lesson for our Christian life.
This is why we, Catholics, call this Thursday Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning a command. It is the day when Jesus gave us his final command which was a summary of his life, what he had done and said, that is, love in humility and service. This was a perfect example he left for us as his followers.
Jesus wants to wash our feet too, we must allow him to do so. When Peter refused to let Christ wash his feet, Jesus said, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me” (John 13:8). Let’s face it, our feet can sometimes be unpleasant. Here, Jesus calls us to be vulnerable and allow Him to love us by washing our feet. Let us be humble so we can show him the ugliest, most unpleasant parts of our lives. Let him gently hold, cleanse, and restore the parts of ourselves that we want to hide from the world. Let us offer him our shame, failures, and faults so that he can redeem them. If we are to be Jesus’s disciples, we must allow him to wash our feet.
Jesus exhorted his disciples to wash one another’s feet (John 13:14), and he exhorts us too as his followers. We are called to imitate Christ and serve one another in the same way. May we seek to serve others in Christ’s name humbly. Let us search for the face of Christ in all people so that when we serve others, we fulfill God’s command to love him by loving our neighbors: “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). If we are to be Jesus’s disciples, we must wash each others' feet.
If we are to wash one another’s feet, that means sometimes we will be the ones receiving the foot washing. Are we too prideful to allow others to minister to us? Let us seek to humble ourselves and allow others to help us in our daily struggles. May we give others the honor of serving Christ in us. We can practice this by doing small things, such as receiving compliments graciously, accepting others’ offers of help with gratitude, or asking friends to pray for us when we are in need. If we are to be Jesus’s disciples, we must allow others to wash our feet.
On this day we also celebrate the institution of the most Holy Eucharist. Jesus institutes the Eucharist today, the act of Thanksgiving to the Father and invited us to take part in it in remembrance to him for when we partake in Eucharist, we proclaim his death, profess his resurrection until he comes again, as St Paul tell us in the second reading. It is a new Passover which our Lord Jesus left for us, it is where we meet him in his Body and Blood. This is in rememberance of him. This is remembrance is not to be understood with the usual meaning of just bringing the memories back, but this remembrance makes what happened on Good Thursday present here and now during mass, it it the re-enactment of what took place. In this way we as blessed as the first disciples of Jesus for he comes to us as he was at the time of the last supper.
When we celebrate this “remembrance,” we do more than remember the Last Supper. We are truly there, truly participating in it, truly experiencing the saving grace of Christ’s gift. It is very easy to “forget” what we actually participate in. Sometimes we can become distracted at Mass. If Mass is celebrated in an irreverent way, if it is rushed or if our minds are somewhere else, then we are standing at the foot of the Cross more like a soldier or bystander than like the Mother of God or people of deep faith. Reflect today on how deep is your love for Eucharist, how deep is your faith in believing that Jesus is there in the Eucharist, how often do you receive him, and what stops you from receiving him. If you don't receive him, today is the day to pray for all those impediments so that you may receive him. Let us build and grow more in our love for Eucharist.
Let us Pray.
Jesus, please wash my feet. I offer you my faults, failures, hurts, anxieties, and sins. Dear Lord, please redeem these parts of me. I am ashamed of them, but I trust in your tender mercy and love. Help me to wash other people’s feet through my humble service to them. Finally, grant me the humility to allow other people the honor of ministering to me when I am in need. Amen
Be blessed
Happy feast day and for all priests, may you be a source of Jesus to us.
Reminder. Tomorrow we are starting divine mercy novena, so join in to pray for God's mercy upon the world.
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