You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. (John 13:13-15 NABRE)
A central theme of Holy Thursday is our call to Christian charity which is so strikingly displayed when the Lord knelt down and washed the feet of his disciples. Jesus becomes servant to them, and the story itself is presented as a “model” (“pattern”) of the crucifixion. It symbolizes cleansing from sin by sacrificial death.* The act of washing another’s feet was one that could not be required of the lowliest Jewish slave. It is an allusion to the humiliating death of the crucifixion.*
Lord Jesus, thank you for your example to me. Though I resist the call to service, to humility, and to charity, I know by your example that these should define all I do. Though this world tempts me to selfishness, pride, and indifference, I know by your example that these lead only to darkness. Lord, my God, lead me along the path to salvation, the path defined by charity and lighted by your Holy Spirit within me. Guard me from the darkness surrounding me so that I might not stray from the well-lit but narrow path which leads me always back to you.
Today, on this Holy Thursday, I will attend the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, recalling the humble life of Christian charity to which I am called.
Saint Francis of Paola, who wished only to be the "least in the household of God," pray for us.
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