Whose feet will you wash this Holy Thursday?
This model of tenderness is an invitation to holiness on the deepest levels. As a mother, I feel this deep.
I ponder:
- All the times the Blessed Mother washed Jesus’ feet as a baby, stroking his feet, wiggling his toes, and caressing his face.
- All the times I washed my own baby’s feet, giggling and cooing with them.
- What Christ is saying to all of us, not just his priests and ministers.
The church teaches this is a model of humility and service. It is the day Christ instituted the holy priesthood and this foot washing was part of their ordination and transformation into being priests of Christ. It follows the priestly Day of Atonement ritual in Leviticus 16.
Thursday has always been the traditional devotional day of the Eucharist. We begin the Easter Triduum with remembering the Last Supper –The Institution of the Eucharist.
I am always struck by the tenderness of the act. Christ rolling up his sleeves, calming Peter down who couldn’t imagine Jesus picking up his adult foot to wash it. I can’t help but laugh at Peter wanting his whole body washed and Christ explaining the real reason.
How close Christ kneeled down, head bowed, cupping those feet. Their feet due to Jewish customs would have already been washed before the Last Supper, so this is more than that. It’s establishing love of ritual in our life. It’s another way to show Christ’s love of us and “setting the example for all of us,” John 13:15.
This washing of the feet we only do once a year, symbolizing what Christ did the night before he died.
As a mother, I think of Mary standing at the foot of the Cross the next day, Christ’s feet in her face now torn, bleeding, and wounded. Did she remember those tiny baby feet of His, knowing that birth was leading to this rebirth of all of us. I think she did. Even in her sorrow, she never despaired knowing those same feet would walk again in the Resurrection. As Christ’s head looked down from the Cross, did Mary kiss his feet hanging there on the cross, once again with tenderness and understanding? I think she did.
As a sign of devotion, I often kiss Christ’s feet on my rosary’s crucifix. My children often kiss his feet on the large crucifix that hangs in church. This tiny act of devotion fills the heart with awe.
This Holy Thursday, Christ is still washing our feet, to lead us to Him. This Holy Thursday, the washing of the feet takes on deep meaning for me as a mother. I am lead to ponder how I wash my family’s feet now. How I serve them, to serve Christ.
During this isolating times of COVID-19, leaving me away from church, I find that Holy Week can still be lived in sweet ponderings and deep thoughts. We are the domestic church wherever we are. Wash someone’s feet tonight. Even if it’s your own.
Artwork: Ford Maddox Brown, 1876. English
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