The actions of Jesus in our Gospel reflect a much deeper liturgical action which is about to take place. What He is doing is preparing them for what He will soon have to undergo and thus they will also have to participate within themselves.
According to Saint Augustin: “He laid aside His garments, when, being in the form of God, He emptied Himself; He girded. Himself with a towel, took upon Him the form of a servant; He poured water into a bason, out of which He washed His disciples’ feet. He shed His blood on the earth, with which He washed away the filth of their sins; He wiped them with the towel wherewith He was girded; with the flesh wherewith He was clothed, He established the steps of the Evangelists; He laid aside His garments, to gird Himself with the towel; that He might take upon Him the form of a servant, He emptied Himself, not laying aside indeed what He had, but assuming what He had not. Before He was crucified, He was stripped of His garments, and when dead was wound up in linen clothes: the whole of His passion is our cleansing.”
Therefore, my dear brethren, may we set our sight upon the cross and the effects of our Lord’s Passion. From the Lord’s Passion our cleansing from sin has taken place. This ritual which Christ goes through within our Gospel sets our sight upon the Passion and how from it we receive the great gift which is the Most Holy Eucharist. Through the Eucharist Christ continues to dwell with us in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity under the appearances of bread and wine.
Who is it who dies for us? Who is it who gives Himself to us in His Body and Blood?
The answer to these questions is God Himself who came to dwell among us on this earth and thus comes to die for us upon the cross out of love. If Christ did not come to die upon the cross as the second Person of the Holy Trinity, fully human and fully divine, then we would not be redeemed and what we would receive in the Eucharist would only be bread and wine.
These days which lie ahead help us to draw close to our Lord. These days will assist us in renewing our hearts and continuing to lift them up to the Lord through our worship of Him. We surround ourself with so many distractions, but Christ asks each of us as He asked his apostles in the garden of Gethsemane: “Can you not keep watch with me for even one hour?”
It is for this reason that following this Mass that the Church keeps watch with Christ. We will process with the Eucharist and it will placed in the repository and then we will depart in silence. I invite you to remain and to keep watch with Christ during this time of prayer. Realize this is God who has come to dwell with us out of love and through obedience even came to accept death upon the cross. The Eucharist is Christ’s love for His Church because it is only possible through His offering of self upon the cross.
In the Roman Canon we are further reminded of what takes place on this day. “On the day before he was to suffer for our salvation and the salvation of all, that is today he took bread.” Again we are reminded of the cross and what the action of death upon the cross has gained for us. For it has gained freedom from sin and death. The Israelites were enslaved, but through God’s great mercy they were liberated from this slavery.
From the love of Christ which springs forth at the Last Supper the great gift which is the Eucharist as well as the gift of the priesthood in which Christ instituted for His Church. From these gifts we too are sent forth to love and serve the Lord. From these gifts we too are sent forth to live Christian charity with one another as Christ shows through the action of the washing of feet.
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