“Blessed Are You If You Do This” by Beth
DeCristofaro
When
Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, he said to them: "Amen, amen, I say
to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the
one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. … From
now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may
believe that I AM. (John 13:16. 19)
Piety
O Lord, open my lips, rouse my hands and feet
so my every word, footstep, undertaking will today proclaim your praise. Bless my eyes so that everywhere I look I see
you in joy. (Based on the Morning
Offering)
Study
TV, social and print media are replete with
stories of celebrities serving in homeless shelters, school-age children
collecting socks or making dolls for the needy, fundraising requests for
neighbors or friends who are facing tragedy.
We, humans, want to help. We spend
time in service, ministry, acts of kindness motivated by faith upbringing, to
solidify community and because we receive a sense of fulfillment out of
it. We feel good. Service can solve
problems and lift people out of their need.
Too often the story portrays a snapshot of someone
needy. We “take care” or we “give” to
someone who has less or is lacking in some respect. Jesus shows us how to
deepen our relationship with him and with each other by turning this model on
its head. Jesus washes his disciples’
feet which is an act of loving service to his friends. He becomes their human equal yet offers them
a kindness not out of need but out of love.
He is the teacher yet also their compeer. He removes status and replaces it with a
willing desire to act lovingly to a friend.
He models the relationship he has with the Father and asks his friends
to emulate and accept this relationship as the way they will share the Word and
form his church in the world. Sandra
Schneiders says that Jesus’ foot washing is a “revelation of self-giving love”[i].
And is the basis for Church.
Jesus summons his disciples, “I have called
you friends” not only into his personal
love but into the loving relationship he shares with the Father. He will lay down his life for his friends as
an ultimate revelation of self-love in a willing and “transcendent”[ii]
way. His model is not one of hierarchy
or power but of self-emptying and loving.
Action
Cursillo calls Jesus our Friend. In what way do I bring my friendship with
Jesus to my encounters with others, offering them friendship without
recompense, quietly silent in the heart of Jesus’ friendship? In what ways might I bring this self-giving
love, free of the power structure to my parish and to my Church?
[i] Written that You May Believe: Encountering Jesus in the Fourth Gospel,
Sandra Schneiders, Herder and Herder, Crossroad Publishing, NY, 2003, p. 196.
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