Jesus the Slave: Washing the feet

 Christians on Holy Thursday practice the sign of the foot washing, which is the end of the Season of Lent and the beginning of the Holy Triduum. In our Churches, we witness the priests washing the feet of the faith

ful as a re-enactment of Jesus washing the feet of His beloved disciples. A few persons who are chosen to be their feet washed show discomfort whilst priest washing the feet, by expressing their uneasiness of being washed. This symbolic gesture of washing of the feet has its significance and its effects on the people of God. This also will move us to meditate on the original event of Jesus’ washing the feet of his disciples. We need to span our attention to the original event and the context of the time to apply to our times. The title, ‘Jesus the Slave’ might disturb you but I would like to explore this ‘Slave Jesus’ keeping in mind Jesus’ divinity in the focus.

The washing of the feet by Jesus takes place at the Last Supper and this is recorded in the Gospel of John 13:1-15. If we read carefully these Johannine verses, we come to understand the context in which Jesus is placed. Jesus loved everyone as His own; a claim on the people He loved the most, especially His disciples hence a meal was imminent with them. The Jewish custom was to have a meal whenever a person left for a long journey, so to call a ‘farewell meal’, in other words a ‘thanksgiving meal’. He would have had meal with his disciples may times in the past but this meal was really a farewell meal. During this meal He desired to show how perfect His love was for His loved one. In the past, Jesus told them parables to make them understand His teachings but now He is the subject of the parable of washing of the feet. Jesus performs a parable in action by which he epitomises the significance of His entire life of dedication. It is not a parable or a miracle but a real life event in the life of the disciples of Jesus. Hence, the disciples did not understand, why Jesus is suddenly doing this act, because it was completely out of the expected.

The then slave masters practiced washing of feet, and also wives and children performed this action too. We have to understand the context of slave and their masters to get the situation right; a slave was expected to wash the feet of the master but never vice versa. Feet washing were a menial job. Masters feet would have become filthy after the long journey or work, so slaves had the job to clean them before master could enter the house. Hence, it is clear a slave had his place and master had his place. These two places remained intact for a long time until Jesus turns the table round. Jesus does the contrary by becoming a slave even though He was a master, teacher and Son of God.  Jesus shows how perfect His father is by a concrete symbol of humiliation of His incarnational state, reference, Jesus and Father are One. Jesus becomes a slave in order to show how perfect His love was for his disciples. This has its beginning when the Word became Flesh, in other words a Kenosis, He empties Himself (Phil 2:7). Jesus humbles Himself event to the point of becoming like a slave. This is an ultimate expression of love for us. Jesus bends down to human creatures to wash their feet in order to show that God can do this ultimate act of love and care. Jesus, in turn asks us to do the same to each other.

Jesus performs this act of washing of feet during the banquet, the Last Supper. This Last Supper becomes the beginning of our own liturgy of the Eucharist. Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. Washing of feet has its fulfilment in the Last Supper that Jesus had with His disciples. The Eucharist we celebrate has this element of washing the feet but most often we don’t pay attention to the institution of the Eucharist but if we did, we could be washing each others feet before we celebrate the Eucharist. A few elements are incorporated in the Eucharist in which we commemorate the first Eucharist of Jesus. This commemoration of the First Eucharist will help us to understand that we are all children of God and when share from the same table, same chalice, same ciborium, we are expected to remind ourselves we are all welcome to the Supper. The Eucharist must help to love each other as Jesus does, even though we do not perform washing of the feet. Therefore, the Eucharist and Washing of the feet are intertwined. In other words, Eucharist must make us humble because our Lord became humble like a slave.

In conclusion, we are invited to practice the humility signified by the act of washing the feet. Jesus’ words, “you too have the obligation to wash each others feet”, must make us humble to serve each other. I would avoid the word slave for someone else in order to wash their feet or in order to serve them. Most significantly, we need to understand the spirit to act of washing feet than the re-enactment itself. We needn’t do this act literally in our lives but we can have the same spirit of humility and service to care for each other. 

What is Holy Week for Christians?

This week is an important week in the Christian Liturgical Calendar. During this week we commemorate our Lords last days on earth and most importantly, His glorious resurrection. It is a week given by the Church for us to meditate on our lives as the followers of Christ.

Why do Christians make a big show of the events in the life of Jesus in the Holy Week? Let me take you briefly to the events in the life of Jesus and its significance to us.

The Holy Week begins

The first Holy Week, by the plan of God, was the most important week in the life of Jesus Christ. This Holy week, likewise, should be the most important week in the entire year for each one of us.

A brief background to the event that happened in the life of Jesus;

The entire passion took place in Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, and its environs. Political situation was that the Jewish nation was subject to Rome. Roman governor was Pontius Pitate. Their high priest Caiaphas and the council of 70 elders ruled the Jews. Herod was the King of Palestine.

Jesus of Nazareth who for three years has been preaching the kingdom of God, working miracles and finally claiming to be the Messiah, was so growing in popularity that the High priests and the Jewish authorities saw in Him a serious threat to their authority over the people. Authorities wanted to kill Jesus but they had not authority to kill anyone only the governor of Rome had that authority. Now Passover week, with the great influx of pilgrims to Jerusalem, was a hand. Under such circumstances Holy Week began.

Palm Sunday

First day of the Holy Week is Palm Sunday. On Sunday morning of Passover Week, when pilgrims were traveling to Jerusalem, Our Lord went openly from Bethany to Jerusalem, by the most direct road. He even sent His disciples in for a donkey, thus encouraging a celebration. The enthusiastic followers made a triumphal procession, and in triumph Our Lord entered the Holy City. Jesus enters Jerusalem like a king but not like Herod or a worldly king but humble servant king riding on a humble donkey.

Next Three Days

Now for the Next three days, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we are given time to meditate on some of the key movements of Jesus and their repercussions felt by the authorities. Thus, this meditation will help us to enter into Holy Triduum. Three days Gospels from our daily liturgy propose Jesus’ actions as intense as possible, which will cause disputations among the authorities, and than High priests are worried about the authority of Jesus. Hence they plot to eliminate Jesus.  Holy Triduum begins on Holy Thursday and end on the Easter night and then we have Easter Season.

Holy Thursday

First day of the Triduum is Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday. Before Jesus was to be handed over to the authorities he desired to celebrate the Passover meal with his disciples. He, as the teacher and master of the disciples did an extraordinary act of humility by washing the feet of the disciples. Now this is really an act leaving one’s position to care for the people who are lower to them. We the Catholics witness this act of humility as a symbolic gesture in our parishes when our priest or leaders of the church wash the feet of others.

The Institution of the Eucharist: It is the day Christ instituted the Eucharist, the Mass. Our Eucharist has its origin in Christ Himself. And whenever we celebrate Eucharist we do that in Christ’s memory.

Good Friday

It was past midnight when our lord again wakened the three Apostles, Judas and the soldiers approached Our Lord to capture. Then he was taken to the house of Annas for a preliminary investigation. Next he was taken across the courtyard to Caiaphas the High priest for interrogations in preparation for the full religious trial. Pontius Pilate the governor of Rome was the next in line to pass judgment on him but seeing no guilt Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, the King of Galilee, who sent him back in a robe of mockery. Then Pilate forced to release Barabbas and hand our Lord to scourged and sentenced to death of the Cross. This way Jesus is crucified between two brigands. Jesus dies on that cross, a painful death by forgiving his executioners and the brigand. Helpless mother Mary stands at the foot of the Cross.

Our parishes remember this event by meditating the painful journey of Christ through the Stations of the Cross. It is the day to spend time with the Lord who died for our sins. We also have veneration of the Cross in the afternoon in our parishes.

Easter Vigil

Resurrection of the Lord is celebrated in the Easter Vigil. This is an important event that happened in the history of humanity. Jesus rose from the dead. He spoke about his own resurrection throughout His time on earth, that he would rise again in glory to judge the living and the dead. It is a most beautiful moment for us Christians. We have waited for this moment during our season of Lent by sacrifice and prayer. We are happy that our Lord has risen from the dead. He has risen to die no more. What a wonderful day for us, the resurrection of the Lord. We have an uplifting liturgy on the Easter Vigil. It is the unique solemnity in the Church and an important liturgy. We have new light being blessed proclaiming Christ is the light of the nations; we sing exultet in which we proclaim the greatness of our God. We have 5 to 7 scripture readings in which we recall how God created the universe and how he saved us. We also renew our baptismal commitment and renew our faith in God. It is day to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection. As we say, we are resurrection Christians.

Easter and Kites

In Guyana, we also follow the Easter tradition of flying kites. This is a beautiful tradition we do after spending time in prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We come together as brothers and sisters to celebrate together. Some of the parishes will bless your kites on Sunday or Monday. We are united as the people of resurrected God just like the kites of different color and size. Let us take this opportunity as we celebrate the Easter to unite as the children of one God.

It is a great time to be in the Church, to pray and celebrate. Nothing like being in the Church during this Holy Week, so join us in our celebrations. You are most welcome to join any of the nearest parishes to find out the time of these festivities. God bless. 

I Thirst

Dear brothers and sisters,

I woke up on the 4 March to learn about two tragedies, namely, Al Jazeera news portal reported that 4 nuns of the missionary of Charity have been gunned down along with other 11 person in Yemen. Guyana local news reported that 17 prisoners are burnt alive in the prison in Camp Street. A red letter day when blood was spilled in Yemen and in Guyana. I was deeply saddened with the news. God created human beings in his image and likeness, that image has been gunned down and burnt alive in fire. This means it is obvious that the perpetrators don't see the image of God in their victims. Then there is a clear sign of breakdown of the society. The intention of God for man to love Him and each other has been distorted openly and boldly by perpetrators. 

On the 3 March, I was still trying to grapple with the disheartening news of the prison fire and Sister superior called me to ask whether I have any information about the sisters killed in Yemen. I said I read passingly on the news about the nuns being killed but not sure whether they belong to the Missionary Charity. I assured her that God is with them. I went to check the news again and that is where I realized the heinous crime has been the cause of the four missionary sisters and other people. 

Yemen, and largely most of the Middle East has been in civil war for a longest while. But misery increased when evil groups like ISIS, ISIL and so on took advantage of the civil fight in the nam of the religion and targeted other tribes, Christians, and so on. There have been about 6000 persons killed in Yemen alone. This should be major cause of concern for the nation of Yemen and the world. Pope Francis, upon hearing the news of the nuns being killed said, 'globalization of indifference has caused these nuns to lay down their lives.' 'They are the modern martyrs.' 

Pope is speaking about the indifference of the world towards these war torn nations. How many of the news agencies carry the news about these people being killed in thousands, it does not really hit the headlines in our news papers because of the indifference. It does not concern the world because our public security is good, and even if it does concern it just makes it as a sub-news. This is what Pope Francis calls it a 'globalization of indifference.' The prison fire claimed 17 lives, it became news for couple of days and every one got on with their, probably some even said, they are prisoners so why bother. That is what I call 'globalization of indifference.'

On October 7, 1950, the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established upon single inspiration that Mother Teresa received whilst traveling on a train. This way the aim and mission she would give to her new institute: "to quench the infinite thirst of Jesus on the cross for love and souls" by "labouring at the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor."

Sisters, whenever I celebrate Mass for you in your chapel, the words beside the Crucifix, "I thirst" makes me think one thing, that is, you see Christ in these women and the poor, hence, you care for their needs and this way you quench the thirst of Christ. I would like to go a little further in saying, don't remain at the Cross because your reward is resurrected Christ. The four sisters, have quenched the thirst of the poor and the needy by hard labor and commitment. They have gone to the extreme of spilling their own blood for the poor and the needy. Their reward is Christ. 

The Catholic Church prepares for the Canonization of Bl Mother Teresa of Calcutta on September 4, 2016. Let St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta be our inspiration and model to love the poorest of the poor in this nation. 

In our gospel today Jesus is talking about his father by saying I do nothing of myself rather I teach what Father has taught me. I always do what pleases him. These sisters did the exactly the same as Jesus. They did what Christ taught them to do that is to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Christ teaches us to love and in turn we love each other. This love is comforting but at times this loves costs us our including our lives. 

The Sunday of Joy and Pain

Our Lord Jesus entered into Jerusalem with glory and triumph. Palm Sunday calls us to meditate on two aspects of our Lord Jesus Christ, namely, triumphal entry into Jerusalem in which people from different walks of life gathered and Jesus' painful journey to the Calvary in the reading of the Passion. The sacred liturgy of the Palm Sunday has these two human dimension, glory and pain. Jesus Christ had to go through these two facets of human nature, pain and glory. Jesus was both divine and human; hence, he was glorified as a eternal King and had to be in agony on the Cross. In both these events, Christ is glorified. As he entered Jerusalem, people welcomed him with branches as the king of glory, and on the other hand, he glorified the Father and saved humanity on the Cross.

He entered into Jerusalem gloriously. What does that mean to us? When a victorious general or emperor of the ancient world entered the capital in triumph, it was in a stately chariot or he rode on the back of a splendid horse. Legions of soldiers accompanied him in the victory procession, wielding the swords that helped them win the victory. Triumphal arches, decorated with relief sculptures, were often erected to immortalize his heroic victory. Until now you can see in Rome such triumphal arches, that of Titus, of Constantine the Great and Septimius Severus.

After preaching in many parts of the country, after driving out demons, healing the sick, and raising the dead, the time had come for the King of kings to enter the Holy City. But to do so, he did not ride on a warhorse, but on a simple donkey. His companions accompanied him wielding not swords, but palm branches. The monument to his victory was erected a few days later, but it was not an arch, but a cross, the instrument of the most shameful and humiliating death in ancient times.

This event of the Jesus entering into Jerusalem is meditated in our own parishes by blessing of the Palms and the procession. This is to embody that each one we who are present at this event in our parish glorify Christ. We recall our own situation of joy and glory in our own lives. We reflect our own joy of being a Christian and we witness to that in our procession to other people of God. God, in Jesus Christ always glorifies us.

The other central part of the celebration is the reading of the Passion of Christ. This signifies that our Christ shed His blood for each of us. He was nailed on the Cross and died for us, as high priest Caiaphas declared, 'it is better for one person to die for people and that the whole nation parish.' At times, we too nail him to the Cross-in our day-to-day life, by our own sins and wrong doings. Today is the day, to reflect on our own lives and see how we have been glorified by God because God gives us all that is good, and on other hand we reflect our own way of nailing Jesus on the Cross in our day today lives. We ask God to forgive us our sins and bring us to an everlasting life.

150 Years Victoria Parish

The Immaculate Conception Church, Victoria on the East Coast is celebrating its sesquicentennial Jubilee. In 1857, regular Masses started on the East Coast of Demerara and Father Aloysius Emiliani, after an early Mass at the Cathedral in Georgetown would travel and tried to celebrate Masses, by turns at Plaisance, Buxton, Enmore, Victoria and Mahaica. 

In 1861, newly ordained Father Julius Mosca SJ replaced Father Emiliani and in that year a chapel was built at Victoria.  In 1866 the chapel was replaced with a church. It is understood that the church was the Lady Chapel of Brickdam which was dismantled and re-erected at Victoria since the congregation at Brickdam had outgrown it. Over the years, the church lost parts of its structure such as the bell tower and choir loft which were dismantled in the late 1960s. Today the main body of the structure still stands and this year the Church of the Immaculate Conception, as it is known, will be observing 150 years of serving the communities of Golden Grove – Nootenzuil. A number of priests served as Parish Priest with Fr James Purcell serving an incredible 35 years.

The parishioners are elated and will be planning a few activities to commemorate this auspicious occasion such as:-

1. In honour of the Year of Mercy – vigil with Eucharistic adoration

2. Invite all families present here in Guyana who have been baptized to a special mass

3. Health fair

4. Computerization of the register of births, confirmation and marriages.

5. If possible the preparation of a booklet on the history of the church. Towards this venture, assistance is being sought from anyone who has knowledge of anecdotal information/pictures about the church which could be forwarded to Frs Anil Tirkey or Tony De Souza, for inclusion in the booklet.

Source: Joylyn Jafferarlly from the parish