Bathing & washing of feet

[lifllelovepeace]

So today at Holy Thursday mass, we read about when Jesus washed the apostles feet. And He says that, after one has bathed, one need only wash his feet to be clean.
I wonder if one can draw parallels to how that works in the church:
The baptism is your bath than cleans you from head to toe. And then, after you have bathed, you need only wash your feet by way of confession - we do not need to bathe our entire body again, but only wash a part of ourselves clean as often as it is soiled.

Because of course we do not literally wash our feet before communion, that is what I keep envisioning. I don’t know exactly what the Church says on the matter. It may be a silly question, I suppose.

 

[Nelka]

 

[Miserissima]

Interesting analogy; in Jesus’ time, it was customary tohave a servant wash the feet of guests…especially the important ones.

Jesus was actually slighted at a dinner when no one washed his feet (Luke 7:36-50).

Holy water, when we use it to bless ourselves upon entering a church, is a reminder of our baptism, the way a person would rinse his feet before going into a house as a dinner guest. However, foot washing isn’t a sacrament, but a custom.

Although I really like where you’re headed in thought, let’s take out a step further that the Servant of Servants washes our souls clean in baptism and does another quick rinse in confession.

The priest is again acting like a ministerial servant during confession, but not in a local custom way – in a sacramental way. Every time a priest acts in persona Christi, he is humbling himself to be a servant (like washing our feet), but in a much more profound (sacramental) way.

 

[sirach2v4]

Don’t Jesus’s own words explain the meaning of his action, that his disciples have to humble servants? They would be humble servants, first, of God, then of their fellow men and women. This is the meaning that Pope Francis preached on in his Holy Thursday Mass with the disabled people.

The cleansing is not by water, but by the entire gospel that brings about belief in Christ.

I suppose you can read into an action a lot of different meaning. Ultimately water symbolizes Christ.