“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you "

CHRISM MASS:

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

Isaiah 61:1-3a, 6a, 8b-9

 

Ps 89:21-22, 25, 27

Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

  

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

Revelation 1:5-8

EVENING MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER:

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊   

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

John 13:1-15

It was before the feast of the Passover. Jesus realized that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father; and as he had loved those who were his own in the world, he would love them with perfect love.

They were at supper, and the devil had already put into the mind of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had entrusted all things to him, and as he had come from God, he was going to God. So he got up from the table, removed his garment, and taking a towel, wrapped it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing.

 When he came to Simon Peter, Simon asked him, "Why, Lord, do you want to wash my feet?" Jesus said, "What I am doing you cannot understand now, but afterwards you will understand it." Peter replied, "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you can have no part with me." Then Simon Peter said, "Lord, wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!"

Jesus replied, "Whoever has taken a bath does not need to wash (except the feet), for he is clean all over. You are clean, though not all of you." Jesus knew who was to betray him; because of this he said, "Not all of you are clean."

 When Jesus had finished washing their feet, he put on his garment again, went back to the table, and said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another's feet. I have given you an example, that as I have done, you also may do.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Table and Towel

 When the COVID-19 pandemic forced churches all over the world to close down for months, many cradle catholics were traumatized by the inability to celebrate the Eucharist.

However, it was also a graced moment for many to live the "authenticity of the Eucharist" (as Pope John Paul Il puts it in his apostolic letter Mane Nobiscum Domine, #28), by practicing the other integral half of the Eucharist – the Liturgy of the Towel – by caring for those affected by the pandemic.

If John, who leaned on the heart of Christ at the eucharistic table and felt his heartbeat, chose to present the washing of the feet at the very context where the synoptic gospels presented the institution of the Eucharist, he was only affirming that the Liturgy that begins at the table must end with the towel at the feet of the other.