Homily given at Westminster Cathedral on 17 April 2025 for the Mass of the Lord's Supper
On each day of this Holy Week, we are keeping our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus. He is the great leader and teacher of life. In him, we find the deepest truths of our humanity. From him, we learn how to live, without fear, fully in the sight of God, for he shows us the face of God in our flesh and blood.
This evening we hear his solemn words:
'I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.’ (John 13:15).
What exactly is he teaching us tonight?
He is teaching us humility, for he, the Eternal Word of God kneels before his companions, those whom he has created. He is teaching us service for he performs for them the meanest of tasks, usually fulfilled by a servant. He washes their feet.
Humility and service. And underlying these teachings are to be found their foundations.
First, Jesus is asserting that in his eyes, the eyes of God, every person has a great dignity and is worthy of our service. In God's eyes, in his eyes, each of us is treasured. God delights in us. He delights especially in our striving to do our best in life.
It is the will of the Father that we should flourish and find the fullness of life. This evening, Jesus, in this action of humble service, asserting the great worthiness of each person, serves the will of the Eternal Father.
Secondly, he teaches us that in our serving one another, in the simplest of daily tasks, we are acting in his name, after his example, and we too are fulfilling the will of the Eternal Father. As we go about our daily business, walking the streets, standing at our tasks, our feet take a bashing. They are constantly bearing our weight and, out of sight, are often somewhat neglected. In choosing to wash our feet, then, Jesus teaches us that it is precisely in our times of stress and difficulty that he is closest to us. Such is his loving service, always.
Thirdly, in this simple act of washing feet, Jesus invites us to see how all-pervading is the wonder and majesty of God. Nothing is too small, too unimportant, for God's loving attention. He, the Eternal Word of God, through whom all things are created, is present on his knees before us. We know, from this moment, that in Jesus we are embraced by the One God, the beginning and the end of all things, the 'Alpha and the Omega'. The grandeur of God never distances God from us. Here we learn that, in Jesus, almighty God is coming to us before we dare approach him. Being afraid of God is not our true pathway. We may indeed be troubled by our waywardness, as was St Peter. But that kind of fear pushed him even deeper into the arms of the Lord. In this washing of feet is the mystery of God giving service to the life he has created, so that we may give loving service to God in each other.
Here, in this humble service, is the unfolding of the wonder of God and the royal road of life in its fullness. Here we see that humility is not demeaning, but a joyful recognition of the reality of God in whose presence we bask. Here we see how to live our lives, this pilgrimage of hope, with strong and deliberate humility and willing joyful service. In doing so, we walk steadily in the footsteps of Jesus, where love and charity abound. We do not play to the gallery or seek adulation but grow in confidence in the wonder of God's love flooding into our lives.
This double 'mandatum', or command, - to humility and service - is the prelude to the celebration of the Lord's Supper with his disciples, a supper enacted here, across space and time, in this celebration of the Mass. Humility and service are also to shape our presence and participation in this Mass.
In the Gospel, we also heard this declaration:
'Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.’ (John 13:1).
In this Eucharist, we bow low before the wonder of Christ's undiminished love for us, a love 'to the end', demanding everything. We know that our place before him is to be on our knees, literally or figuratively. We know that, in response to this great mystery, we are to rise to renewed service of him who gave his all for our sake. In this Eucharist, we are swept
up into the eternal mystery of the love of God, creator, redeemer, personal Lord and Saviour.
Here are some words which can renew in our hearts the wonder of the Eucharist and so deepen our humble service to our Blessed Lord. They come from a book written by George Mackay Brown entitled 'Magnus'. He writes:
'Hands will bring a portion of bread which will be broken and suffused with divine essence, and the mouths that taste it shall shine for a moment with the knowledge of God. For generations, and even hills and seas, come and go, and only the Word stands, which was there - all wisdom, beauty, truth, love - before the fires of creation and will still be there inviolate among the ashes of the world's end.'
My brothers and sisters, let us always keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus, the teacher and leader of our faith, the Eternal Word of God in our midst, through whom we have life and with whom we will attain our fulfilment and eternal destiny.
Amen.
Photo: Mazur/cbcew.org.uk