During a Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Cathedral of St. Matthew on April 14, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory followed what Jesus did at the Last Supper, by washing people’s feet and celebrating the Eucharist. Jesus offers the ultimate example “of selfless service and love” for his followers, the cardinal said.
“His example is intended to change the world for the better – certainly to change us for the better. The essence of Holy Thursday is found in Christ’s subservient example of love of neighbor,” the cardinal said, referencing how Jesus washed the feet of his Apostles.
Then Cardinal Gregory reflected on Jesus’s offering of the Eucharist, another key event from Holy Thursday, as a gift that Christ continues to offer today.
“The Eucharist itself, the enduring gift of His Presence, is the summit of His expression of self-surrender – His life-giving good example,” the cardinal said.
The sacred Paschal Triduum begins on Holy Thursday, continues on Good Friday and ends on Easter Sunday. Parts of the Mass, including Cardinal Gregory's homily, were delivered in Spanish.
In the Gospel reading on Holy Thursday, Jesus said, “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” (John 13:12-15)
By washing the Apostles’ feet, Jesus taught His followers how to serve one another, the cardinal said.
In his homily, Cardinal Gregory emphasized that Jesus will always serve as a trustworthy model. The cardinal said that finding “good moral examples” is especially challenging in times of violence such as the war in the Ukraine, the rise in mass shootings in schools, and attacks on public transportation, such as the recent subway shooting in Brooklyn, New York.
“As believers, we are called to live and to practice the virtue of hope, that spiritual ability to see God’s plan unfolding even in the many disasters that continue to surround us,” the cardinal said.
He also said the Internet, although a highway for information, has become a “cesspool of sexually explicit and salacious opportunities.”
“We are in a terrible state of affairs in terms of the society’s moral condition – and I need not delve into the scandals that continue to plague every once noble institution –including our own beloved Catholic Church herself,” Cardinal Gregory said.
In the section of his homily that he delivered in Spanish, the cardinal said that Jesus’s example of humble service dares people to see others as worthy of loving, and that is an example that can guide people to cease all types of hatred. Cardinal Gregory said that example of Jesus if followed would help end societal ills like racism, sexism, classism, gender and age bias, and all forms of discrimination in the workplace, in education and housing, and would make religious intolerance nonexistent.
The cardinal said that on Holy Thursday, Catholics should reflect on their relationships with one another and see how they can follow Jesus’s example of selflessness.
“Let’s see if we can manage to get it right this year – for in a world with fewer and fewer good examples, it’s the best one we have!” Cardinal Gregory said, ending his homily.
The cardinal then washed the feet of 12 of the cathedral’s parishioners to symbolize Christ’s washing the feet of his 12 Apostles.
At the end of the Holy Thursday Mass, the Blessed Sacrament was moved from the tabernacle and brought in a procession to the cathedral's Chapel of St. Anthony for Adoration.
Cardinal Gregory will preside at the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday, April 15, at St. Matthew’s Cathedral at 1 p.m.
