Praised be
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!
“Fully aware that the Father had put everything into his
power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, (Jesus) rose from
supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his
waist…”
Lest we have the wrong impression that Jesus was weak and so
ended unto the Cross, we are shown in the Holy Gospel the real glory of Jesus:
the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was
returning to God. He was fully aware of who he was: You call me master and
teacher, and rightly so, for indeed I am. His knowledge of his Divinity all the
more makes his gesture very significant. From what he did, we could see the
humility of God. Jesus did not cling to his Divine nature and took upon himself
the lowliness of ours. Not only did he wash his disciples’ feet, he washed us
of sin with his precious blood shed upon the wood of the Cross. He practiced
what he preached. He said that the gentiles lord it over them and the great
ones make their presence felt (Luke 22:25) but it should not be so amongst his
disciples. For the ones who are greatest must be the servant of all. He who was
given power over everything, he who was from God, he who is Lord and Teacher –
he bent down and performed the most humiliating service than any servant can
render, that is, to wash another person’s feet. The sacrifice that he was about
to make upon the wood of the Cross is the utmost humiliation of God – for what
God is there that would sacrifice himself in order to save his lowly creatures.
It is this Divine humiliation that takes place in the holy Sacrifice of the
Mass. God does not only take upon himself human flesh. He goes even further
down by hiding beneath the humble appearance of bread and wine, food and drink.
He heeds the voice of his priests and comes down upon our altar when his words
are repeated by them over bread and wine. God who becomes food and drink, God
who obeys his priests – this is our God, our truly humble God! God who lays
down his life for us, God who washes not only our feet but our souls as well –
this is our God, our truly humble God! God who no longer calls us his servants
but his friends, God who reveals to us everything – this is our God, our truly
humble God!
And then he tells his priests: Do this in memory of me. He
tells us: If I who am your Master and Teacher washed your feet, so should you
wash each other’s feet. God, our truly humble God, leads us along the way of
humility. He reveals to us the only way to his kingdom is by the way of
humiliation and self-emptying, the way of self-denial and sacrifice. By his
Incarnation and Paschal Mystery, our blessed Lord goes down into the depths and
by doing so, is exalted! The Son of Man enters into his glory!
Jesus, I trust
in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
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