Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper • This Mass commemorates so many beautiful things: the welcoming of the holy oils, the institution of the Eucharist, and the gift of the Priesthood. Then we have to go and ruin it by washing feet. Thank you, Jesus, for finding a way to make us all feel awkward.

Last summer I attended a wedding reception where the groom washed his bride's feet. It was tender and beautiful and not at all awkward. Jesus is about to leave his disciples in charge of his Church. Jesus is the perfect Servant Leader, and he wants to give authority only to those who are willing to serve.

I wash feet so that you will know, "I got the memo." But I am also inviting the men, the husbands and the fathers of the parish, to do for others as I do for them. Go home and wash your wife's feet. Wash the feet of your children, the elderly, your employees, the poor among us. We who have authority are also under authority, me to my Bishop and all of us to Jesus. We report to the Lord, and he himself washes our feet. Let us do for others as Jesus does for us.

(6 Apr 2023)

Going Deeper: Go home and wash your wife's feet. Then husband and wife together should wash your children's feet. Are there people in your community who need their feet washed, symbolically speaking?

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