Washing Feet: Love and Service

Holy Thursday, 2016:

• Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
• 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
• Verse Before the Gospel: John 13:34
  John 13:1-15

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Holy Thursday, 2016

By Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas
March 24, 2016

"If I, therefore ... Have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet."

To wash someone's feet in the ancient world really meant something. It was, almost always done, by household servants as a way of indicating the importance of the other person, as a way of showing respect. It was a show of humility and tenderness in submissiveness and deference. The person doing the washing was always "lesser" than the one whose feet were being washed. And the fact that Jesus did it spoke volumes. In a sense he was saying, "you must be a servant. You must be humble. You must come in close to the one in need. You must get your hands dirty. You must (maybe for the first time) think exclusively of the other person."

So what does that look like in this time and in this place?

Maybe it means.....

That the starting point is always the dignity of every single person, no exceptions.

That the happiness and well-being of others is as, or more important, then ours.

That we don't have to win every argument.

That we don't have to have all the answers, and that others have something to teach us.

That the person we like the least is precisely the one we need to help the most.

That we must never be okay with others being lonely and forgotten or unloved.

Maybe it simply means that we should approach every single person we encounter, intent on answering the question, "what can I give? What does this person need from me?" And not what can I get from this person?

How can we possibly do that? Well, it's only possible if God is alive and well within us, shaping all we say and do. And nowhere is that hope more visible than at this altar, at the sacred table whereby our loving Lord and Savior feeds us with his very life, his very self -- our God poured out for us and within us so that we can do all the incredible things he calls us to do. Think about it -- the body of Christ given to the body of Christ so that we can more perfectly become the body of Christ, that is so that each of us can strive to live lives of profound goodness, kindness, generosity, mercy, and love. That's the promise and the challenge of the Eucharist.

So you all be Good, Be Holy, preach the Gospel always using Words and Holy Actions.

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'Thank you' to Deacon Kaas, for letting me post his reflection here.

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More reflections:

• "Reflections from Sauk Centre's Our Lady of Angels Church"

Related posts:

• "Names and THE Name"
  (February 28, 2016)
• "Love!"
  (January 31, 2016)
• "Mercy!"
  (December 13, 2015)
• "(Not) 'Going Native' "
  (August 30, 2015)
• "Gnawing Our Lord"
  (August 16, 2015)