From the responsorial psalm: “To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. My vows to the LORD I will pay in the presence of all his people. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 13:1-15, today’s readings)
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
During the Last Supper, Jesus puts all of his trust in the Father, fully aware, as John tells us, “that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” When Jesus approaches Peter to wash his feet, Peter misunderstands the significance of the act. Jesus responds by indicating that unless he washes Peter, he has no share with him. Jesus demonstrates the importance of humility and service to others in the kingdom of God. He says to the disciples, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
God, the Father of Mercies, help me receive your mercy even as I do not fully understand its profound meaning in sanctifying me. When Jesus approaches Peter, he first refuses to allow Jesus to wash his feet. Open me to receive your mercy, Lord, in humility and gratitude. “How shall I make a return to the LORD,” the psalmist prays, “for all the good he has done for me?”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.