Homily
for April 5, 2007
Liturgical Year C - Cycle I
Holy Thursday
By Dcn. Bob Villarreal Topic:
Christ's love for us.
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Reading
I
Exodus 12:1-8,11-14
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month
shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first
month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of
this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb,
one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole
lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall
share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of
it. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take
it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the
fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of
Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.
They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and
the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same
night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter
herbs.
“This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your
feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in
flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will
go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man
and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt(I, the LORD!
But the blood will mark the houses where you are.Seeing the blood, I
will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no
destructive blow will come upon you.
“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations
shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual
institution.”
Reading II
1 Cor 11:23-26
Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to
you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread,
and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body
that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also
the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my
blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as
often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death
of the Lord until he comes.
Gospel
Jn 13:1-15
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass
from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he
loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of
Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware
that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come
from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his
outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he
poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples( feet and dry
them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said
to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and
said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will
understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance
with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but
my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has
no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so
you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this
reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and
reclined at table again, he said to them, “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.”
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The theme of today’s readings is that Jesus loved and loves us
intimately and infinitely. He loved us in both his humanity and his
divinity. Because he loved us in his divinity, we now have a place in
God’s Kingdom, as children of God. Because we have a share in his
divinity, we must love as he loved us in his humanity. In today’s Old
Testament reading from the book of Exodus, the Lord established the
Passover celebration in these words, “This day shall be a memorial
feast for you which all your generations shall celebrate with
pilgrimage to the Lord as a perpetual institution.” Notice that this
command from the Lord is later continued, even maybe fulfilled, in the
second reading of the day’s Gospel, which was essentially, “Do this in
remembrance of me.”
In today’s Gospel account, Jesus had invited his disciples to celebrate
the Passover meal with him in the upper room. Throughout John’s Gospel,
Jesus taught a double theme of his relationships: first with the
Father, his relationship with divinity; and second with his apostles or
relationship in his humanity. The apostles had a great deal of
difficulty understanding that sometimes Jesus was speaking to them from
his divinity and other times his humanity. They did not yet understand
the fact of His divinity much less its significance or the depth of His
humanity, it was often a riddle to them. Even for us looking back in
retrospect, it is not obvious. For instance, the statement, “Jesus knew
that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father,” is
definitely a revelation of His glorification showing forth His
divinity. The statement, “He loved his own in this world and He loved
them to the end,” is a statement of His humanity.
John’s Gospel continues. During supper, Peter was fully aware that the
Father had put everything into His power, that He had come from God,
and He was returning to God. In other words, Jesus had been granted
power to perform all signs by his own authority. This has elements of
both His divinity and His humanity. Jesus proceeded to wash the feet of
his disciples. That opens us to what Jesus does and what He is. He, who
is Lord, comes down to us. He lays aside the garments of glory and
becomes a slave, one who stands at the door and who does for us the
slave service of washing our feet. This is the meaning of His whole
life and passion. That He bends down to our dirty feet, to the dirt of
humanity and then in His greater love He washes us clean. Jesus
prepares us for God’s presence and for each other’s company as we can
sit together at table. We, who repeatedly find we cannot stand one
another, who are quite unfit to be with God, are welcome and accepted
by him. He clothed himself, so to speak, in the garment of our poverty
and in being taken up by Him, we are able to be with God. We have
gained access to God. We are washed through our willingness to yield to
his love. The meaning of this love is that God accepts us without
precondition. Even if we are unworthy of His love, incapable of
relating to him because he, Jesus Christ, transforms us and becomes a
brother to us.
Jesus continued his effort to wash the feet of his disciples, one at a
time, until he came to Simon Peter who asked, “Lord, are you going to
wash my feet?” Jesus responded, “What I am doing, you do not understand
now but you will understand later.” It was only after his death and
resurrection when they received the promised Spirit of God, the Spirit
of God’s love, they finally were able to understand fully what Jesus
had done to them. However, at this time Peter had not yet received the
Spirit and did not understand that Jesus was teaching from His divinity
and through His humanity. When Peter, full of false humility and pride,
blurted out, “You will never wash my feet,” essentially, Peter is
saying I won’t allow you to lower yourself below my level. Of course,
Peter did not comprehend the personal and intimate love that Jesus was
offering and Jesus said, “Unless I wash you, you will have no
inheritance with me.” In other words, “you will not share in my
divinity”. Peter quickly changed his mind and after Jesus washed the
feet of his disciples, including Peter, He said to them, “Do you
realize what I have done to you? If I, as your Teacher and Lord, have
washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.” The direct
translation from the Greek states that, “What I have done to you”
rather than “for you.” This is an important subtly. What Jesus did in
washing their feet was to effect a change in them. After this washing
of the feet gospel, Jesus said to his disciples, “Little children,”
notice He is still calling them children. “Little children, a new
commandment I give to you. That you love one another even as I have
loved you.” Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet was a supremely
intimate statement, indeed an act of personal love. This was
incarnational love, love from the infleshed logos and yet personal love
for his
friends, his brothers.
Before coming to Los Alamos, I was a member of Holy Rosary parish in
Idaho Falls, Idaho but not yet a deacon. Roberta would sing in the
choir and I would read at Mass, because my singing was less than
perfect even then. Of course, Father John cannot concede in any way,
that my singing has improved since then. (Laughter) There was a couple
at Holy Rosary that had adopted a baby. In time, it became apparent
that the child was severely handicapped. They had every right to return
the child to the adoption agency because this was not what they had
been promised or certainly, this was not their expectation. Instead,
they kept the child and loved it. The child did not talk or walk and
did not seem to be aware of what was going on around her. The couple
would come to Mass and the mother would sing in the choir while the
father would tend to their daughter, who was in a special wheel chair
close to the choir. During the Mass, the child would not or could not
move much. However, on occasion she could be seen to move her face and
lean into her father with a barely perceptible motion. We could almost
perceive a moment of peace or smile on her face, as her father would
respond by stroking her. For us, who witnessed this, it was a moment of
tears. For them, this was a moment of intimate love that had to have
been instilled by many unseen moments in the quiet of their home. The
adopted parents of this child were washing this child’s feet with their
love.
This is what I believe Jesus meant when he essentially said, “Do this
to each other in memory of my love.” This is the love of humanity for
humanity and of humanity for divinity and is a sign of our Catholic
faith in understanding the ultimate act of sacrifice made by Jesus as
he loved us in both his divinity and humanity. Jesus had to love us in
his humanity because only he could love us, redeem us, and sacrifice
his life for us. Jesus had to love us in his divinity because it was
only through his Resurrection that he could reveal that he was the Son
of God and only he could promise an everlasting relationship with him
in this world and with the Father in the next. Yes, Jesus loves
intimately and infinitely and we remember his love for us in this Holy
Thursday celebration in the washing of the feet.