HUMBLE AND BEAUTIFUL
I go into this sacred weekend with a heavy longing for connection.
I yearn for the community and sensory experience of Holy Triduums in years past:
The smell of incense wafting through the church. “Jesus, Remember Me” reverberating in solemn echoes on Good Friday. I will even miss the chaos of Easter Sunday as families pressed into the pews like sardines, and I scrambled to save seats with whatever purses and Missals I had on hand.
But I will miss Holy Thursday the most. My eyes become glassy every year when I watch unsuspecting parishioners overcome with awkward gratitude as they are invited to have their feet washed before their community. It is humbling, and it is beautiful.
There will be no washing of the feet this year. But the beauty and the humility remains.
In today’s Gospel, we are left with Christ’s words:
“Do you realize what I have done for you?
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.”
Today I think of my fiancé 100 miles away, working extended hours as a first responder tending to the safety of his community. I think of my sister and countless other family members, serving as nurses at the frontlines of this harrowing time in history.
And I think of us, and the unique gifts and talents we are able to offer.
In this time of social distancing, let us ask ourselves, “How can we wash one another’s feet without actually touching?”
Paula Votendahl