Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter
We who live in the northern hemisphere are so fortunate, liturgically speaking. The timing is perfect and we can celebrate the Easter season in the spring of the year, which is usually marked with beautiful promises of growth. Nature mirrors the kind of energy and new hope that the Christian community finds in the magnificence of the Paschal Mystery. We look around and it’s easy and natural to say, “Yes! Alleluia, Christ is risen!”
In today’s readings for the Eucharist, the Acts of the Apostles continue to record wonderful successes as St. Paul and the other apostles fan out to bring the Good News to lands near and far. People form supportive communities of mutual help and charity and reach out to the poor and neglected. But even with the many new Christian communities springing up, this is not a fantasy world. Along with the successes, there are times of suffering and persecution. Until solid tradition is established with the help of the Holy Spirit, false teachings must be analyzed and corrected. Persecutions will cause many to go into hiding. Some will courageously profess their faith even to the point of death, and some will abandon their new faith. This is the real world for the early Christians.
What about today? Can we not say that all the joys and sorrows of the early Church continue today, even though it now plays out on a world scale? The proclamation of the Good News is the same: Jesus Christ has offered us a way to live in harmony with one another and with God, which leads to eternal life. The Christian message is often bypassed or lost as irrelevant in the frantic pace to achieve individual advantage for short term goals.
Rather than lose hope, the individual Christian trusting in the Spirit of the Risen Lord can do something today as dramatic and countercultural as the early martyrs facing the lions in the arena. Jesus told us to wash one another’s feet in imitation of his love for us. That is a challenge that requires a major attitude adjustment.
To wash feet is to not discriminate. To wash feet is to recognize the interior dignity of the other. To wash feet is to offer forgiveness. To wash feet is to offer genuine service. To wash feet is to seize the unique value of the present moment. To wash feet is to reverence human life as God-given. To wash feet is to respect the holiness of the body. To wash feet is to find humble joy in caring for someone. To wash feet is to bring hope to the present moment. To wash feet provides our society with a remarkable reason for living – because Jesus did it.
Whose feet have you washed recently? Whose feet should you have washed?
Reflection by Fr. Daniel Petsche, OSB
Posted in Lenten Resources