The heart of the Holy Thursday Mass comes in the Gospel of John, where John describes Jesus before the Passover feast with the apostles. Jesus knows the end is near. In those last hours with the apostles, Jesus ties a towel around His waist and washes their feet. The gesture and the act are so full of humility and love. The actions speak more than a torrent of words. The apostles don’t quite understand, but Jesus assures them that they will.This ritual, carried out every Holy Thursday, in churches in Rome to my neighborhood parish, still speaks volumes. We are humbled by Jesus’ willingness to do such a personal and menial task. The model of love and willingness to sacrifice for others are so strongly portrayed in the simple act of washing feet. With that act, Jesus put His faith in those apostles, and throughout the ages, to each of us. We don’t always understand, but we can follow Jesus’ example and model of humility and sacrifice.
The beauty and simplicity of the Gospel story work in tandem with the first two readings. The first reading sets the scene of Passover while the second reading resonates with the familiar words of the Eucharist. We have a covenant that we renew each time we receive Jesus in Holy Communion. I pray that I am mindful of that covenant, of the promise I make. And I pray for humility and the willingness to follow Jesus’ model of love.
Holy Thursday is a very special day in the Christian world. It marks the end of Lent and the beginning of the Sacred Triduum - three very sacred days in our Catholic tradition. The celebration this night is so special that in each parish community there may only be one liturgy (except where a special consideration is made for the elderly with an earlier liturgy).
In this liturgy we celebrate the gift of the Eucharist. We might celebrate the Eucharist every day, or certainly every Sunday, but on this special night we celebrate its gift to us and its meaning in the context of the life giving story of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection for us. And we also celebrate the gift of ministry. We are not only the gifted. We are given a lesson in how we are to give ourselves to and for each other. During this rite we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the gift of Priesthood to the Church, but on this night we solemnly reflect upon the gift of priesthood that we all receive from Jesus, as those who are bathed in him in Baptism.
With the Exodus story of the Passover tradition and with Paul's account of the Last Supper story, we are free to enjoy John's account of that special night. It has a dramatic feel to it. John doesn't tell us that Jesus gave us his body and blood at the supper and then after the supper washed his disciples' feet. He doesn't mention the gift of the Eucharist at all! This is not an omission. This story of the washing of the feet is the story of the Eucharist. They are identical in John. This story explains the Eucharist. It tells us what the Eucharist means. By washing his disciples' feet, Jesus is saying, "This is my body; This is my blood; Do this in memory of me." And, he is also saying, "I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."
This is why on this special night we act out the Gospel. We need to act it out to feel it, to let the experience of seeing it happen touch our hearts. By surrendering to his Passion and Death on the Cross, Jesus washes our feet. By being broken and given for us in the Eucharist, Jesus is giving us an example and a commandment for how we are to be broken and given for each other, by washing each other's feet.
It is not easy to have our feet washed. I remember I only participated in one Holy Thursday Mass as an altar boy. I dreaded it. Looking back, I think I was probably embarrassed that everybody in the church was going to see my feet! Mom must have sensed my trepidation, because the advice she gave me in preparation for that Mass was to make sure I took a bath and put on clean socks before Mass. But my discomfort went further than just embarrassment. Think about your feet. I don’t care who you are, your feet smell. They are not always very attractive. It is a part of our bodies that we rarely let others touch or caress. And, it is not easy to wash the feet of another. This is all a powerful drama representing the power of love. It is not easy for me to let you love me. It is not easy for me to love you. Parts of me are not very acceptable. I'll let you love certain parts of me, but rarely will I let anyone close to the "smelliest" and most unattractive parts of me. And, when I love you, I often will love you when you are most presentable or attractive. When you put me off or when you are not at your best, I don't do so well at loving. Consider how we treat those poor homeless people at off-ramps or intersections—don’t we sometimes form instant opinions of them based on their appearance? And those opinions are rarely favorable, at first, until we realize we are called to love our neighbor unconditionally, that is, without condition.
Jesus loves us unconditionally. He loves us, not because we deserve it. He loves us because we need loving. He tells us to love the same way. At the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday we are given his Eucharistic, self-sacrificing example of how to love each other. "This much," he says. "Love each other this completely, this freely, loving the most unattractive parts of each other, where love is needed most."
So when we watch this example of his love for us, and when we receive the Eucharist together, let us let Jesus love us. We can pray in our hearts, "Lord, I so desire for you to love me. I don't want to hold back, hold away from you, those un-presentable parts inside of me. I don't want anything covered up, anymore. I want to be transparent and free before you. Wash all of me with your love." And we might ask, "Lord, let your body and blood bring me into the most intimate communion with you tonight. Fill my heart. Push out all of the fear and anxiety, all of the anger and frustration, all the pettiness and lust. Fill me tonight, Lord, so that I might be filled with your peace and learn how to love others this way. Help me to give myself to those closest to me in the days ahead. Help me to be self-sacrificing, thinking of their needs first. Help me to serve them and care for them and to delight in losing myself in feeding their hungers. And, Lord, let me hear the cries, the hungers and thirsts of so many more of your people, not only those close to me, but those in my city and throughout the world. On this special night, let me taste your desire that we all be one, through our sharing of this Eucharistic love."
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