Simple gestures

"Having loved his own in the world, he loved them to the end" (Jn 13:1).

The testament that Jesus leaves us is a testament of love. And the love of Jesus reveals itself in the simplest gestures. The Gospel tells us that God the Father gave Him all things into His hands. Our life as disciples of Jesus Christ must consist in imitating our Lord and Master.

In some churches today, the feet of the twelve apostles are washed symbolically. And in neocatechumenal communities, right after the priest washes their feet, all the participants in the liturgy begin to wash one another's feet. A husband washes his wife's feet, a wife her husband's, a sister her sister's, a brother his brother's. This gesture of washing feet is truly very eloquent, because it reveals what true love is. If any of us has already washed the feet of those close to us—perhaps because of illness, or a mother her child, or children their parents—you know what the evangelist is speaking of. The touch of another human being can be an expression of the deepest love, though it can also be an evil touch, such as Judas's kiss in the Garden of Olives.

All the gestures and words of Jesus were true and filled with love, and therefore His deeds and words possessed healing power. Jesus healed the sick, comforted the sorrowing, and even raised the dead. We too can do the same toward our brothers and sisters, and especially toward those nearest to us. We can cleanse our neighbors of their weakness and sins, and then embrace them with tenderness as an expression of our deepest love. That love of Christ which heals and mends the broken in spirit. Yet we can also do everything without love—then even our heaviest labors and duties will lack inner power and strength. For it depends on us alone whether through our gestures and words we transmit the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ to our brothers and sisters.

Some of us defend ourselves against love our whole lives long, just as Saint Peter did, who considered himself a strong and brave man, needing no instruction in the matter of love. Who did not understand what Jesus was truly asking of him. Who was ready to sacrifice himself each day, yet could not rest his head upon the breast of his Master as the beloved disciple John did. Oh, Peter, Peter! If you will not allow the Lord Jesus to wash your aching feet with love, you will not manage in life. You will have no share in Jesus, who so loved the world that He gave His life so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Do you understand, Peter, what it means to be invited to the Eucharistic Table, to the Body and Blood of Jesus? Do you grasp that every word of Jesus and every sacrament has the power to wash you whole—your feet, your hands, and your head?

Jesus wants to wash each of us today, dear brothers and sisters, so that our whole life becomes an expression of love, beginning with our smallest words and gestures. The Son of God wants to teach us by His own example how to cleanse people through love and mercy. Not by force, not compelling us to love, but only through service to our neighbors, without expecting any reward in return. For love itself, shown to our brothers and sisters, both good and evil, to Peter and to Judas, is healing for us. If you can love, you will always be loved. If you only seek love from others, you will remain a spiritual pauper. The reward for human love is the gift of the Eucharist—the possibility of receiving divine love. Through love we ourselves naturally become the Eucharist. And then we need not understand everything in order to love with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind our Lord and God. May the Son of God remain our greatest Teacher of love—in our daily and ordinary life, both at home and at work. God is always with us if we love as Jesus Christ loved us, He who gave us a new commandment: that we love one another, just as He first loved us. Amen.