Disturbing request

“Catherine, would you be available on Holy Thursday for the celebration of the washing of the feet?” »On Sunday of the 2018 twigs, before the Sunday mass, this request disturbs me. To be one of the twelve whose priest will wash his feet … For a few years, I have rediscovered the joy of an intense parish life. However, my Christian career does not make me worthy of such a choice, it seems to me.

Am I worthy of the twelve people selected? Doubts assail me. Especially since I live today as a couple. I ask a diligent parishioner for advice, who has become a guide and a friend. “There is no question of legitimacy, but thanks to receiving,” he reassures me. So arrives on Holy Thursday. I have a hard time, suffering for five months from heavy back problems and inflammation of the right leg. I am guided towards a reserved square, on the left side of the central aisle in which the priest will move. It is therefore my painful foot which will be washed.

The celebration begins. I pray, anxious. After reading the account of the enema of the feet of the twelve apostles by Christ (Jn 13), the priest puts on an apron, prepares the water, the basin and the linen with which he will wipe his feet. He knows me well, I confided in him. The choir unites “like him, knowing how to train the table, like him, tie the apron …”

I would like to sing, but my throat is knotted. When he stands on my knees in front of me and washes my foot, it is no longer him but Christ who is there. He repeated his joy at having found me, that he will always be by my side. Large tears flow on my cheeks. Sangs of joy that wash me. I know at this moment that my life will no longer be the same. Since then, I have committed myself with great joy in the mission.

* The first name has been changed.