“I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” – John 13:15

Of all the richness that these Holy Thursday readings offer, I keep returning to John 13:15. It has become a refrain in my prayer: Jesus, affirming that He has most assuredly given us a model to follow and calling us to do as He has done, to allow ourselves to be poured out in love. Time and again, I return to this refrain in prayer and lament creeps from my heart, manifesting itself in the tears that brim my eyes.

Jesus, the model You’ve provided is not ambiguous or lacking sufficient specificity. You left no doubt in the witness of Your life, in the healings and the teachings, in the breaking of the bread and in the washing of feet. And, yet I – dare, I say, we – struggle to follow. 

Forgive me, forgive us 

For refusing to embrace an ever-greater humility, 

A humility born of love of You and of the humanity You gave your life to save,

For shrinking from neighbor’s need  and too fully claiming time, talent and treasure as of and for ourselves alone,

For recoiling in the face of our own vulnerabilities, refusing the necessary foot-washing that marks our dependence and interdependence, 

For shirking a share in the cup and the suffering that may accompany it, 

For believing ourselves followers and, time and time again,  failing to follow with the whole-hearted witness of our lives and actions.

You have loved us.

You have taught us.

You have healed us.

You have fed us with bread and wine.

You have washed our feet.

You go to the cross for us.

You descend to the depths for us.

You will rise for us.

And, you continue to call us to follow.

This Triduum, deepen in us 

our lament and our repentance, 

our openness and our surrender,

our awe and our gratitude,

our hope and our devotion. 

In the ALL of it, make of us more faithful followers who live by the model You bequeath to us. 

In love, make of us an offering to You. 

Amen.