Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14/ 1 Corinthians 11:23-26/ John 13:1-15
In the Mass, as the priest prepares the bread and wine for the Offertory, there are two sets of prayers that he says if there is no Offertory hymn being sung.
As he lifts up the bread to be offered, he will say this prayer :
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.
And as he lifts up the chalice with the wine, he will say this prayer:
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the wine we offer you: fruit of the vine and work of human hands it will become our spiritual drink.
In both prayers, the Lord is blessed for the gifts He has given to us – the fruit of the earth and the fruit of the vine.
Yet, the offered gifts of bread and wine are also the work of human hands and that makes up the offertory.
Yes, the work of human hands is the joy and dignity that we have as human beings.
With our hands, we continue of work of creation, and by the work of our hands we give glory to God.
Indeed, we can say that we are proud of the work of our hands – of what we have achieved and what we can achieve, and what we can invent.
In the gospel, we heard that Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to pass form this world to the Father.
He has always love those who were His in the world, and He was going to show how perfect His love was.
Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.
Yet with everything in His hands, Jesus let go of that everything and He did an astounding thing.
He got up from table, took a towel, poured water into a basin, and with His hands He took His disciples’ feet and washed them.
Yes, with His hands, He washed His disciples feet. He washed the feet of the one who would betray Him, He washed the feet of the one who would deny Him, He washed the tax collector’s feet, the Zealot’s feet.
He washed the feet of His disciples, all of whom would desert Him later.
Yet with His hands that healed the sick and consecrated bread and wine into His Body and Blood, with those very hands, He washed the rough and dusty feet of the disciples.
He washed their feet so that they would remember this astounding act.
And in future, they too with their own hands will wash the feet of others so as to offer to God a living sacrifice.
Today as we commemorate the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, we re-enact the “washing of the feet”.
We are reminded that in partaking of the Eucharist, we also unite ourselves with Jesus in the example He has given to us.
There is no greater love and no greater work of our hands that we can offer to God than in serving others and washing their feet.
When we understand this, then we will understand the meaning of the Eucharist.
Then we will understand what Jesus has done for us.