What you see below is a set of notes I used for a rather informal homily. Sometimes I preach with a full manuscript, sometimes with a page of notes from the crossing, sometimes without notes at all.
Feet—
early memory of a bee sting
climbing into the car after a trip to the beach—dad dusting sand off our feet
stepping on glass in the 9th month of my pregnancy with Sylvia
carrying a bookcase that disintegrated—learning the meaning of “comminution” as a bone in my toe shattered into many pieces
Identification w/Peter
Why should FEET and this ceremony dominate Maundy Thursday?
This attention to foot-washing appears to take some of the glory from the institution of the First Eucharist.
Body and Blood of Christ
foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet
Maybe because there is a tendency for sacraments to be so metaphorical that the physical/material part almost fades away in comparison with the spiritual reality
FEET are very physical/material
What a reminder that Jesus values and participates in the material world—that’s what it means to be God Incarnate—God WITH us.
A reminder that, in serving, we best live faithful to the New Commandment (Mandatum) to love one another
A reminder, too, that in serving we are present in a different way than the eucharist, but still present, to others.
C.S. Lewis wrote:
Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ,--the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself--is truly hidden.
It’s a reminder that what brings us to the Celestial Banquet is Feet—
Feet nailed to a Cross
the Beautiful Feet of those who share the Good News
the Feet that reveal Jesus to us in our washing them
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