I’ve written about foot washing in a previous blog entitled “Will You Let Me Be Your Servant,” but it’s something that has become really important to me. I have a weird but special connection to the intimacy of washing one another’s feet, and because today is Holy Thursday, I couldn’t help but reflect on it yet again.
Last year, my pastor gave an amazing homily about this that has stuck with me ever since. My leadership skills have developed with an emphasis on service (as noted in that previous blog post), but I had never connected service to the Eucharist. This is what John is emphasizing in today’s Gospel (John 13:1-15) with the telling of the Last Supper. Now, he doesn’t mention the bread and wine at all in this passage but focuses on Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles.
Through this, John tells us what the Eucharist means. Fr. Tom said that “the celebration of the Eucharist is not complete unless, like Christ whose body and blood we receive, we become servants.”
Fr. Tom also said that “recognizing the Eucharist as the Body and Blood of Christ is not complete unless we recognize the Body – the Body of Christ, which is the church, the community of faith.” To recognize the Body, we must “commit ourselves to give our lives and live our lives for the people God has placed in our lives, for each other.”
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. And by partaking in it, we become the Body of Christ and are called to imitate Christ. Just as Christ served his Apostles, we must serve others as well. Jesus led the Apostles during his years of ministry on Earth, but while he was doing that, he was serving them as well by walking with them through it all. He knows where their feet have been, and he washes them too. We are called to do the same.
We must walk with the Mystical Body of Christ. Share in our failures and triumphs. Wash each other’s feet. Serve one another and give our lives to this Body.
I understand that we find ourselves in a different situation this Holy Week. We are physically distant from our faith communities. Spiritual communion is just not the same. But we can still recognize the Eucharist by serving one another in different ways and seeing Christ alive in others.
Although we are apart, we are still ONE in the Mystical Body of Christ. We can still find ways to wash each other’s feet. I’m finding this time as a wonderful opportunity to slow down. I’m taking advantage of having more free time to intentionally connect with others. I’m using the gift of technology to reach out to the people most special to me and to those past relationships that may have fallen through. I have been praying for others, especially because it is Lent, and even more because this is a very uncertain time.
Continuing to grow in relationships with others is serving the Body of Christ. Personal connections are so important to building up the Church. Intentional and selfless prayer keeps Christ in the center of those relationships. And more than ever, we must remain steadfast in the Lord and have faith and trust in Him.
But even though we are physically apart, we can be together spiritually. We must remember that Jesus is always washing our feet and showering us with His grace, mercy, and love. And since we must imitate Him, we “ought to wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:14). There are many creative ways to do this in this period of quarantine, but today I encourage you to find a way to stay connected to the Eucharist by recognizing the Body of Christ. Send an encouraging text. Pick up the phone and call someone you love. Pray for the Body and rely on its strength.
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