'The Master of the House Washed My Feet!' Holy Thursday.

Jesus washes the feet of the Apostles

Church of St Aignan, Chartres, France [Wikipedia]

Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Note: The page above has the readings for the Chrism Mass and, below them, those for the Mass of the Lord's Supper. 

Gospel John 13:1-15 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition, Canada)  

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’ For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, 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.

From The Gospel of John

Directed by Philip Saville

'The Master of the House Washed My Feet'
By Fr Gary Walker

In March 2008 I posted this story from The Far East, the magazine of the Columbans in the Region of Australia and New Zealand (now, with Fiji, the Region of Oceania) about a Hindu, Nomo, who proclaimed the gospel after a Holy Thursday experience. What struck me is its similarity to the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, who also became a missionary by telling the people in her town that she had discovered the Messiah. Fr Walker the author, was then editor of The Far East. He is from Brisbane, Australia.

Pray for the soul of Nomo.

An Easter Triduum story comes from Sindh province in Pakistan where the Columbans work. The extraordinary experience of a Hindu man who was caught up in the Holy Thursday liturgy and had his feet washed by the parish priest, Irish Columban Fr Tomás King.

Matli is a town in Sindh where the Columbans have worked for over 30 years. At Easter Catholics come to town from many areas to celebrate the Easter Triduum; they stay in the Catholic compound while they are in the town. At the same time a Hindu man by the name of Nomo came to Matli to visit his relatives from Nagar Parkar, a town right on the eastern extreme of Pakistan near its border with India. These are tribal people, Parkar Kholi people, who are Hindu and Christian as well as Muslim.

Nomo was several hundred kilometres from home and invited to the Holy Thursday night liturgy by a Catholic friend. Fr Tomás King, the resident priest at that time, randomly arranged for some men to have their feet washed at the altar. It just happened that Nomo was chosen and totally unaware of what was going to take place sat up in front of the altar with the other men. But when he saw that Father Tomás was washing their feet, the poor fellow tried to run away - but they managed to persuade him to stay and Father Tomás washed his feet.

This ritual washing had an extraordinary effect on him and he told others after Mass, Now I have seen a true religion - I came into this house, a total stranger and the master of the house washed my feet! Imagine the master of the house washing a stranger's feet.

He returned to Nagar Parkar and related this story, not only to his family but also his neighbours and friends. Nomo was a well-known figure and a prominent person in the Hindu community in Nagar Parkar. Even though he was not baptized he proclaimed this message of love and service as he experienced it at the hands of a Catholic priest.

Sadly he died in questionable circumstances. Some Catholics in the area believe that he was poisoned while trying to bring peace and reconciliation between two parties that were at odds with one another. He had accepted the gospel as his way of life.

Fr Tomás King

One of the antiphons that may be  sung duriing the Washing of the Feet, a ceremony that will not take place this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic

Antiphon John 13:4, 5, 15

Postquam surrexit Dominus a cena, misit aquam in pelvim,

After the Lord had risen from supper, he poured water into a basin

et coepit lavare pedes disciplulorum:

and began to wash the feet of his disciples:

hoc exemplum reliquit eis.

he left them this example.

Ps 47 [48]:2. Magnus Dominus, et laudabilis nimis; in civitate Dei nostri, in monte sancto eius.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain.

Postquam surrexit Dominus a cena, misit aquam in pelvim,

After the Lord had risen from supper, he poured water into a basin

et coepit lavare pedes disciplulorum:

and began to wash the feet of his disciples:

hoc exemplum reliquit eis.

he left them this example.

Holy Thursday, Jesus said, 'I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.'

Christ Washing the Feet of his Disciples (detail)

Tintoretto, c.1547. Museo del Prado, Madrid [Web Gallery of Art]

Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

  

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) [Readings for morning Mass of the Chrism included.]

Gospel John 13:1-15 (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”  Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, 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.

Antiphona ad introitum Cf. Galatians 6:14

Nos autem gloriári opórtet in cruce Dómini nostri Iesu Christi, 

in quo est salus, vita et resurréctio nostra, 

per quem salváti et liberáti sumus.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Galatians 6:14

We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, 

through whom we are saved and delivered.

The Last Supper (detail), Tintoretto, 1579-81

Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice [Web Gallery of Art]

Antiphona ad Communionem 1 Cor 11:24-25

Hoc Corpus, quod pro vobis tradétur: 

hic calix novi testaménti est in meo Sánguine, dicit Dóminus;

 hoc fácite, quotiescúmque súmitis, in meam commemoratiónem.

Communion Antiphon 1 Corinthians 11:24-25

This is the body that will be given up for you; 

this is the Chalice of the new covenant in my blood, says the Lord; 

do this, whenever you receive it, in memory of me.

Pange Lingua Gloriosi

This hymn, written by St Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi, is sung at the end of the Mass of the Lord's Supper as the Blessed Sacrament is taken in procession from the altar where the Mass has been celebrated to the Altar of Repose.

Madonna House: The People of the Towel & Water

Video made at Madonna House, Combermere, Ontario, Canada

I have visited the Madonna House community in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada, a number of times, in 1985 and in 2005. One of many blessings was meeting and working with a priest of Madonna House, the late Monsignor Art Bukowski, from Michigan, USA, in Kentucky during the summers of 1969 and 1970, when I was a young priest studying in the USA. He was much older than me and when I first met him he had just finished 29 years as president of Aquinas College, Grand Rapids. He later, I think, spent some time in Latin America. He died in 1989. I remember him for his quiet, missionary zeal as a priest and his driest of the dry humour. I also remember the Madonna House cross that he wore.

 Monsignor Arthur F. Bukowski

The video, which begins with part of the gospel for Holy Thursday, highlights the consecration of Catherine de Hueck (de HUEeck) Doherty and her husband to Jesus through Mary. This consecration comes from the teachings of St Louis-Marie de Montfort. The film mentions that that saint had a similarly deep influence on the spirituality of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and Blessed John Paul II. It was also the bedrock of the spirituality of the Servant of God Frank Duff, founder of the Legion of Mary.

Something else emphasised in the video is 'Nazareth spirituality', which deeply influenced Blessed Charles de Foucauld, though in a somewhat different way. It is also implicitly part of the spirituality of Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche and co-founder of its 'cousin' Faith and Light. Both of these, like Madonna House, are very Marian. Indeed, Faith and Light grew out of an international pilgrimage to Lourdes for persons with learning disabilities and their families in 1971.

The very title of this video also reminds me of something that Jean Vanier places great importance on, the washing of the feet. In a retreat I made under him in Manila in 1995 we spent a whole afternoon reflecting on this, ending in small circles where we washed the feet of one of the persons beside us. The one who washed mine was Lala, about whom I've written a number of times before.

 Lala taking care of Jordan in the 'Nazareth' that is the L'Arche community, Cainta, Rizal, near Manila

Though based in England at the time, I was chaplain to the small Philippine group at the Faith and Light international pilgrimage to Lourdes during Holy Week 2001. After the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper we had our own washing of the feet ritual in the garden of the hotel where the Filipinos were staying.

'Nazareth spirituality' shows the extraordinary presence of God in the ordinary. Most of us spend our whole lives in 'Nazareth' and yet very few of us are aware of this.

A quiet joy comes through this film, the kind of joy that Pope Benedict spoke about in his message for this year's World Youth Day, observed yesterday, Palm Sunday.