Saturday, March 30, 2013
Women's Feet
The Pope washed women's feet on the Holy Thursday liturgy. It made CNN World News. The media is fascinated by the gospel...when it is truly lived. Talk is cheap. We can talk the talk from the pulpit. Walk the walk and even CNN is interested. The religious right is much less enthusiastic. For years we Paulists have taken flack for washing women's feet on Holy Thursday. It feels nice to finely say, "Well, the Pope does it."
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This Pope is going to get some people aggravated. In the old days he would need a food taster.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's why he's choosing to live and take his meals in the Guest House rather than in the Vatican apartments!
DeleteThose of us in the pews always knew the Paulists were right!
ReplyDeleteFr. Terry,
ReplyDeleteYou and Pope Francis are brothers, indeed! At Holy Thursday this year you washed the feet of my daughter and me, her mom. It was a simple yet profound gesture on your part and sparked a lovely conversation between us afterwards.
It was only today that I shared with her the fact that washing women's feet is seen by some as anti-liturgical and is outright banned in many places. My daughter has a deep connection with her Savior, meditates and prays on her own and loves more than anything to alter serve.
When asked if she thought this tradition should be limited to only men, she quickly answered, "The only reason Jesus washed the feet of just men is because they were the only ones in the room. Maybe the they needed the lesson more than others."
She went on to point out that only two days ago, women in Saudi Arabia were granted permission to ride bicycles - but only in non-public "recreational" areas.
I recently read that many critics are hung up on the gender of the feet instead of the salvation of the person's soul.