March 29, 2018 Holy Thursday B
March 29, 2018 Holy Thursday B
Who is the ‘chief cook and bottlewasher in your house’? Is it mom? The term refers to someone whose responsibilities include absolutely everything, from being in charge of important things as well as details and menial tasks. Being in charge means that there is no task that is beneath one’s dignity. Last year, Pope Francis celebrated Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper at a prison. He washed and kissed the feet of 12 inmates — men and women — whose prison sentences varied from short term to life in prison. As the ‘chief cook and bottle washer’ of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis gave the clergy, the faithful, and the rest of the world, a glimpse of what Jesus did on the night of the Last Supper when he washed the feet of his disciples and fed them the Bread of Life. Pope Francis said during the homily at that mass, “Jesus loved to the end...He [gave] His life for each one of us…He who was ‘the head’ washes the feet of His disciples...He came to the world to serve, to serve us, to make Himself a slave for us, to give His life for us, to love to the end.”
Our Lord said, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet" (Jn 13: 14). We’ve been commanded to wash one another's feet in the sense of service to each other and in the sense of forgiving one another. We received the grace to serve one another through Our Lord “washing” us by the blood of the Cross, by waters of baptism, and by his Sacred Scripture. The gift of faith, and our meditation and prayer cleanse the dirt of worldly prejudices, selfishness, and emptiness from us as we grow closer to the Lord. Also at the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Eucharist leaving with us the opportunity to encounter him in flesh and spirit everyday. Jesus remains within the Eucharist so that we can be nourished by him intimately, so that we can visit him, and so that we can talk to him as we pray before the Blessed Sacrament.
Jesus who is the ‘chief cook and bottlewasher’ of our life taught us at the Last Supper to “Do this in memory of me,” that is, to empty ourselves to serve one another. Let us ask him this night for the grace to experience the love he has for us, for the gift of selflessness, and for the grace to love to the end.
