Holy Thursday 2024 Homily - St Mary's Clapham CSsR Church...

Holy Thursday The Mass of the Lord’s Supper

St Mary’s Clapham, Served by the Redemptorists since 1848

Some of you will know that I was in Zimbabwe for just under two years. It was a wonderful experience and at the same time a hellish experience! Nonetheless, I have grown to love Zimbabwe and that beautiful country has left me with many great stories and all of them are true! I was a millionaire in Zimbabwe, that is how crazy our currency was, so crazy that I soon became a billionaire! Without a word of a lie, I then became a trillionnaire - the largest bank note that was printed was 100,000,000,000,000 dollars and that bank note could not buy you a loaf of bread!

Today I have been thinking about Zimbabwe because we did something strange on this day - when I say we, I mean the Redemptorist community. We were a close community. There was about 30 of us - one white and 29 black men and those words are the ones they use! The community is quite a young community, there were two in the community older than me, and everyone else was much younger than me! We all gathered in the refectory and all the tables were put around in a U shape. We had our meal as normal with talking and celebrating - because we were celebrating the priesthood - but then at the end of the meal, the confrere older than me and myself got up and we moved to the the two ends of the table - we got down on our knees and we washed everyone’s feet in the community. It was a very humbling experience. Most of the young men in the community were students and so I was in charge of their formation - and for that reason I knew their goodness and their badness - I knew what they were struggling with and I knew what they were champions at. With every brother, I knew that I was on the floor and they were sat on their seat - washing their feet is the ultimate act of service. Jesus knew this and this is what he teaching us.

When each of us gets to heaven - there may be a number of things the Lord will ask us - he might ask us to define the Immaculate Conception, explain the reciprocal pericoresis of the Holy Trinity, or speak of the Infallibility of the Pope. Who knows!? I do suspect that one question the Lord will ask, will be something like this, “did you follow my example and wash other peoples’ feet?” If we say YES, then the Lord will know that we definitely built his kingdom.

It is interesting to note that we are not called to build the kingdom of God using bricks and mortar, but instead to do acts of kindness, of simplicity, of service; like that of washing feet. 

Let us remember that these acts of generosity are the stuff of the kingdom of God and none of us is too great, or mighty or good that we dare excuse ourselves from what the Lord himself wants. 

As we go to the altar of repose this evening let us spend some time in prayer considering how we best can serve our neighbour, how we can show our love and concern, not only for our family members and friends, but more widely as Jesus has taught us. 

Let us hear the Lord speak again to us, "you call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other's feet".

Here’s an article I found last year that might just sum it up perhaps better than I am doing myself!

“Each year when we begin these liturgical rites that bring us into contact with the origins of the Eucharist and the origins of our Church, we gather for the Eucharist on Holy Thursday and we wash feet. Washing feet! Isn’t this a rather strange way to begin these holiest of days? Perhaps the Church proposes this ritual foot-washing to remind us of a dimension of the Eucharist that we might neglect: The Eucharist is a sacrament of humble service.  It is wonderful to be inspired by beautiful vestments and monstrances of gold and silver, and it is helpful to understand anamnesis, epiclesis and transubstantiation.  But we can never forget that the Eucharist transforms us into the Body of Christ so that we might think and act like Christ. This transformation is at the heart of the mystery.”

Fr Richard Reid CSsR

28 iii 2024