Washing the Feet, an Eucharistic Mandate to Serve: An Insight for the Maundy Thursday

Washing the feet of our guests is not uncommon for any North Indians, irrespective of their religion. This is a common picture among the tribals of Chotanagpur. In the tribal culture, which I am familiar with (though I am an outsider), if the house owner’s wife comes out with a towel, soap, oil and water to wash the feet of their guests necessarily imply that they (the guests whose feet they will be washing) are very special (VVIP). He/she is an intimate guest or considered “our person.” Probably, this culture had to do with the kind of geographical setup, transport and distance covered. 

The life in Palestine at the time of Jesus was not different either. The popular means of transport was the feet. People walked a long distance on rough and dusty roads. Travellers often arrived their destination with sore and aching feet. As a sign of hospitality, the host would see to it that the guests were given a warm foot bath and massage as a way of relieving their aches and pains. This was usually done by the house servants or slaves.

This service of bathing and soothing the tired feet were also provided in the rest houses or inns found at strategic locations along the major roads and highways. Travellers worn out along the way could go into these rest houses and have food and foot bath. Their energy thus restored, would then be able to continue and complete their long journey. That is how such rest houses along the way got the name “restaurant(s)” – they restored strength of the tired and exhausted travellers on the way. The disciples would have understood Jesus’ washing their feet in the light of this cultural background. And for us, it is a pointer to the Eucharist we celebrate.

Understood in the light of the washing of feet, the Eucharist is a place of restoration for people on the way. The life of a Christian in the world is a pilgrimage, a long and hard journey. Along the way, we get tired and worn out and are tempted to give up and turn back. But Jesus has provided us with the Eucharist as a place where we can go in to bathe our aching feet and to be refreshed in body and soul for the journey that is still ahead. When we give communion to a sick person we call it viaticum which means “provisions for the journey.” The Eucharist is always a viaticum: in the Eucharist, we derive strength to continue our upward journey, a journey towards God.

I remember an incident that took place during my Diaconate ministry in a parish. There was a bedridden elderly man in a house. The Parish priest used to take Holy Communion every Tuesday. Once I accompanied the Parish Priest to that place. The elderly man said, “Father why do you take trouble in bringing Communion every week? I will not get healed, that I know. My days are soon to be over. When I need, I will send a word to you.” Then the Parish Priest replied, “I know, that this small piece of bread will not heal you nor will make you rise from your bed and walk again. But my coming to you taking Jesus, and in the name of Jesus and talking to you will surely relieve your loneliness, tension and mental worries. I can read this from your face. If this happens, even if you say ‘no,’ I will come.”

In the incident occurred at the table of the Last Supper, Peter was uncomfortable having Jesus washing his feet. Peter, who was somewhat of an activist, would have preferred to see himself doing the washing, washing the feet of Jesus and even of the other disciples. Sometimes it is harder to remain passive and allow someone else to bathe us than it is to bathe someone else, as every toddler can tell you. But having our feet washed and washing the feet of others are two sides of the same coin. We must proudly call it the Christian life.

The first and most essential part is to let the Lord wash us. As Jesus said to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8). First, the Lord washes us clean so that we belong to the Lord. Only then are we qualified and empowered to wash the feet of our sisters and brothers in the Lord. When this truth dawned on Peter, he overcame his reluctance and cried out, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” (v. 9). For this to happen all that the Lord needs from us is simply for us to be there, to present ourselves to him and to let him wash us.

The other side of the coin, which is equally important is that after our feet have been washed by the Lord, we must go and wash the feet of others. After Jesus had washed his disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:12-15). This is actually a mandate (mandatum in Latin) for every Christian. Washing other's feet is to serve others in humility, care, respect, love. It is being hospitable and doing charitable work.

Pope Francis washing feet of the inmates of Rebibia prison in 2015

Jesus establishes a close link between his washing the disciples’ feet and the disciples washing the feet of others. If the Eucharist is the place where the Lord washes our feet, our daily life is the place where we ought to wash the feet of others. Eucharist leads to life and life leads to Eucharist. True Eucharistic piety must lead to the service of others. Jesus who broke the bread of the Eucharist also washed the feet of his disciples. We must follow his example both at the altar of the Eucharist and at the altar of life.

The Priesthood

Today we thank Jesus for giving us the Eucharist and the priesthood. Both the Eucharist and the Priesthood “were born” during the Last Supper. The two sacraments of this day – the Eucharist and the Holy Orders – are closely linked to each other. Without the Priesthood there cannot be Eucharist.

Pope John Paul II in his Letter to the Priests for Holy Thursday 2004, says that the priesthood is born during the Last Supper, “At the Last Supper we were born as priests…” (§1) Then he continues to write about the connection between the priesthood and the Eucharist, saying that priests were born from the Eucharist, “We were born from the Eucharist. If we can truly say that the whole Church lives from the Eucharist…we can say the same thing about the ministerial priesthood: it is born, lives, works and bears fruit “de Eucharistia.” There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist” (§2).

Priests involved in many different activities. No matter what type of work a priest is engaged in, the highpoint of the priestly ministry is celebrating the Eucharist. It is the most important moment of the day for a priest. And so the Pope writes, “The ordained ministry…enables the priest to act in persona Christi and culminates at the moment when he consecrates the bread and wine, repeating the actions and words of Jesus during the Last Supper” (§2).

Before this extraordinary reality, we find ourselves amazed and overwhelmed, so deep is the humility by which God “stoops” in order to unite himself with a human! If we feel moved before the Christmas crib when we contemplate the Incarnation of the Word, what must we feel before the altar where, by the poor hands of the priest, Christ makes his Sacrifice present in time? We can only fall to our knees and silently adore this supreme mystery of faith (§2).

The Pope reminds us of the importance to pray for vocations so that priests may never be lacking to the Church. This reminds us of the huge sacrifices that some people down through the history of the Church have made to protect priests during times when they were endangered by anti-Catholic laws.

Today’s Reality of Priests

Yes, and indeed a vehement Yes, that many priests are involved in scams, dishonesty, travesty, and what not! This does not nullify the honest, god-fearing and simple priests like St. John Maria Vianney. There are many more such priests with their prophetic zeal working amidst us. It is because of these true servants of Christ, the Catholic Church is bubbling with life today. I am proud of it.

Priests are not fallen from the sky nor are they formed overnight in a seminary. They are born in our families. They are weak as any human being is. They are broken in many places. But I must say, it is not the formation that is received in the seminaries make a person ‘the best priest,’ rather it is the formation received at the younger days at home that make a person ‘the best priest.’ It is the timely correction of father and mother, their love and their initial catechism that form a person who they will be in the future. If anyone asks a priest about their formation, no doubt, they will give their first credit to their parents and family members. As a priest, I can boldly say that it is the formation I received from my parents is what I carry in my priestly ministry even today. My seminary formation was only a confirmation of my family formation. The formation received at home gets deepened, branches out, and become a huge tree in the seminary. But it yields fruit, again, amidst his greater family, the world where he is sent. Had not the formation of parents, a priest is a half-baked one.

However, not all apples are sweet in a basket. There may be one or two insipid or sour. Just because one is not sweet enough, let us not throw it away. Our mothers know it well, how to re-use the leftover rice of the previous night. This is the beauty. Priests need the help of such mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters in making them delicious. I beg earnestly from you, ‘love your priests, help them, guide them, teach them, direct them, love them.’

Often, priests are misunderstood and become a subject of talk for the people. A famous anonymous quote goes like this:

A priest is always wrong because:

If he begins his mass on time, his watch is advanced;

If he begins a minute later, he keeps people waiting

If he preaches too long, he makes people get bored;

If his homily is too short, he is unprepared.

If he owns a car, he is luxurious;

If he does not own one, he does not go with the times.

If he goes out to visit families, he is always out:

If he does not, he has no time for them.

If he asks for donations, he is a moneymaker;

If he does not do it, he is too proud and lazy.

If he takes time in the confessional, he is too slow;

If he makes it too fast, he has no time for his penitents.

If he renovates the church, he throws away money;

If he does not do it, he allows everything to rot away.

If he is with the youth, he forgets the old.

If he is seen with women, he is a playboy;

If he goes with men, he is not normal;

If he is young, he has no experience;

If he is old, he should retire.

As long as he lives, there are always people who are better than him. But the reality is this, “If the priest dies….there is nobody to take his place!” Our entire life is a period of formation. We too need ongoing formation. When we fail, kindly correct us, but don’t punish us with third-degree torture because we are for you only. If you don’t own us as your sons, brothers and companions, then who will?

Yes, I left my mother, so that you become my mother

I left my father so that you become my father

I left my brother so that you become my brother

I left my sister so that you become my sister

I left my relative so that you become my relative

I left my friends so that you become my friend

I left my everything so that you become my everything

Now, accept me the way I am, mould me, guide me, love me, strengthen me, forgive me

Be with me in my loneliness, worries, tensions and problems

I count on your being with me in all my good and bad times.

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta

St. Albert's College, Ranchi

ST. JOHN Mary VIANNEY: A BRIDGE BUILDER

St. John Mary Vianney, the saint of Ars, is a man of God, a man of prayer and a man for others. There are now a plethora of tasks, activities and movements in which priests are expected to immerse themselves. But the challenges and demands made on priests today should not frighten or confuse them. The new emphasis and requisites only tend to integrate priests with their people, whereas the older theologies highlighted their separateness. They have not only to celebrate the sacred mysteries but also try in their life to epitomise the Word they preach and the sacrifice they make present. To bring about such metamorphosis in priestly life, it demands a profound and radical self-giving. Here St. John Mary Vianney comes to our rescue.

St. Vianney, a heroic model and a persuasive teacher of the practice of piety, virtue and penance, is seen always as a model for priests. Pope John XXIII in his Encyclical, Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia says, Vianney is “wonderful in his pastoral zeal, in his devotion to prayer and in the ardor of his penance to the honors of the saints of heaven, now, one hundred years after his death, offers him with maternal joy to all the clergy as an outstanding model of priestly asceticism, of piety, especially in the form of devotion to the Eucharist, and, finally, of pastoral zeal.” Therefore, he is a model of clerics. “a priest who was outstanding in a unique way in voluntary affliction of his body; his only motives were the love of God and the desire for the salvation of the souls of his neighbors, and this led him to abstain almost completely from food and from sleep, to carry out the harshest kinds of penances, and to deny himself with great strength of soul.” Pope further says that it is very difficult in present scenario to be like him. This task brings us challenge before us.

Over enthusiastic biographers held that Ars was a den of iniquity and a cesspool of immorality. But it may not have been so notoriously immoral. However, to the average citizens, God was not important and the church played no active role in their lives. On the eve of Vianney’s departure for Ars, Fr. Courbon, the Vicar General told him, “There is no love of God in that parish. Go and put some love into it.” And he did just that by his prayer and penance. His bargain with God was, “Grant me the conversion of my parish. I consent to suffer whatever you want for the rest of my life.” Like a true prophet he called his people to repentance; through him, the spirit of penance spread through the land like fire over dry stubble. He was there up to fifteen hours a day reconciling sinners. He penetrated the impenetrable hearts, converted the most corrupted souls, won favour with God and man through his self-giving and simplicity of life, too simple a life, in fact, to express in human words. For instance, his daily meal consisted of a bowl of boiled potatoes and he rested only for 3 hours.

It is sometimes said that we are living in the age of “the lonely crowd” in “concrete jungles,” an age in which the separation and gulf among the hearts and minds of people often find tragic expressions. As an ambassador of Christ the priest must appeal to all people to be reconciled with God and with one another. To those who are lost in the loneliness and isolation of sin he must effectively speak Christ’s word of forgiveness. A priest is a man who builds bridges (pontifex) and breaks down barriers. In fact, the priest himself must be a bridge i.e., a genuine living link between God and people through prayer and selfless service. “Oh! How great is the Priesthood! It can be properly understood only in Heaven... if one were to understand it on this earth one would die, not of fright but of love!” (Pope Benedict XVI in his General Audience on 4th August 2009).

St. Vianney’s very life is a reminder that the aim of all revolution must be reconciliation. If like their patron, priests make the Eucharist the centre of their life and allow it to mold and shape them, they too can attain the power of total giving of self which is needed to live up to the image and profile of a pastoral priest. Then every priest can become a real pontifex, who brings reconciliation in the world. Thus, the simple, gentle and pacific Vianney becomes a challenging Vianney for all priests.

“Dear St. John Vianney, because of your love of God you showed great charity towards your neighbour. You could not preach on the Love of God without burning tears of love. During your last years, it seemed as though you could not talk about anything else or live for anything else, but for love. You sacrificed yourself to your neighbour by consoling, absolving and sanctifying them to the limits of your strength. Your charity inspires me to greater love of God, a love which is shown more by acts than by words. Help me to love my neighbour generously as Christ loves them. St John Vianney, Patron of Priests, pray for us and for all priests. Amen.” 

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta