HOLY THURSDAY
(John 13)
Lent begins in the dead of winter. But the word doesn’t mean “winter.” It means “springtime.” Lent should take us from winter to springtime, from slavishness and selfishness to self-control and consideration of others. Some say that we shouldn’t give up anything for Lent but rather concentrate our efforts on charitable works. But we need to do both: deprive ourselves of things we enjoy, things that can preoccupy us with our own comfort. And we should also attend to others’ needs so that we might become more sensitive human beings.
On Holy Thursday we receive a similar dual mandate. In the second reading, St. Paul’s tells us how Jesus instituted the Eucharist on the night before he died. He took bread and wine, gave thanks for both, said, “This my body…This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this…in remembrance of me.” For this reason in the Church we celebrate mass today and everyday with the one exception of tomorrow, Good Friday.
The washing of feet is the second of Jesus’ commands made on Holy Thursday. Interestingly, the foot-washing tradition appears only in the Gospel of John where Jesus does not offer the bread and wine on the night before he dies. Does this gospel then ignore the Eucharist? Not at all. In the Gospel of John Jesus gives a long discourse about the necessity of eating his body and drinking his blood. We all remember his words: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
In the Gospel of John instead of taking the bread and the cup Jesus takes a towel and ties it around his waist. Instead of pouring wine in a cup, he pours water into a basin and begins to wash his disciples’ feet. Finally, he tells them something much like, “Do this in remembrance of me.” He says, “…as I have done for you, you should do for each other.” Of course, Jesus does not mean here that one day a year the priest at mass should wash a few parishioners’ feet. Or even that all of us wash each other’s feet everyday. No, he means that we should serve one another.
How do we do that? You workers should not let the desire to make more money prevent you from giving the best performance possible. You employers should try to provide health care benefits and other essentials for human dignity. You retired people should not just think of your time as your own but donate some to organizations helping others. You parents should take care in providing the right mix of discipline and supports so that the children grow into conscientious and caring persons.
At the end of last year a man traveling from Florida to Colorado was having car problems near Fort Worth, Texas. It was a rainy night when he met Willie Dancer, an African-American car repairman, at a convenience store. The repairman had the stranger’s car towed to his shop and drove the man to a motel. The next day he repaired the car which had a shredded belt and the stranger was on the road again by noon. His fee for tow, parts, and service – just $65. Why did Mr. Dancer do so much for so little? He explained, “Everybody should be helped when they are in need....It’s just the right thing to do.”
We’ve all heard the slogan: “you are what you eat.” It reminds us to watch the cals and the carbs. But we Catholics can take that slogan a big step forward. When we eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood, we have his life within us. This life moves us from slavishness and selfishness to self-control and consideration of others. It enables us to fulfill Christ’s command to serve one another. His life enables us to serve.
