The Last Supper of Jesus with His Disciples - The Washing of the Feet

Consummatum est. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

Our Lenten meditations continuewith posts taken from a Simple Exposition of the Circumstances of the Passion of Jesus Christ (1761) by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori.

I have inserted references in the text to numbered footnotes. These references are not hyperlinked but may be found by scrolling to the end of the relevant paragraph.

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. Tecum tutus semper sum.
Ad Jesum per Mariam.

This grace I ask of thee to-day: obtain for me a continual remembrance of the passion of Jesus, and of thine also, and a tender devotion to them.

The Washing of the Feet

Jesus knowing that his hour was come to pass out of this world to the Father; having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end.[1] Knowing that the time of his death and departure from this world was come, and having hitherto loved men even to excess, he wished to give them the last and the greatest proof of his love. Behold him seated at table, all on fire with charity, turning to his disciples and saying, With desire I have desired to eat this Pasch with you.[2] My disciples (and he then said the same to us all), know that I have desired nothing during my whole life but to eat this last supper with you; for after it I Shall go to sacrifice my life for your salvation. Then, O my Jesus, dost Thou desire so ardently to give Thy life for us, Thy miserable creatures? Ah! this Thy desire inflames our hearts with a desire to suffer and die for the love of Thee, since Thou dost condescend to suffer and die for the love of us.

[1] [1] Before the festival day of the pasch, Jesus knowing that his hour was come, that he should pass out of this world to the Father: having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
Ante diem festum Paschae, sciens Jesus quia venit hora ejus ut transeat ex hoc mundo ad Patrem : cum dilexisset suos, qui erant in mundo, in finem dilexit eos. [John 13]

[2] [15] And he said to them: With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer.
Et ait illis : Desiderio desideravi hoc pascha manducare vobiscum, antequam patiar. [Luke 22]

O beloved Redeemer, make known to us what Thou willest from us: we are willing to please Thee in all things. We sigh to give Thee pleasure, to correspond at least in part to Thy great love for us. Increase always more and more this blessed flame within us: may it make us forget the world and ourselves, that from this day forward we may think only of pleasing Thy enamoured heart. 

Behold at table the Paschal lamb, the figure of our Saviour; as the former was consumed at supper, so on the following day the world was to behold on the altar of the cross Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, consumed by torments. He therefore leaning on the breast of Jesus.[3] Happy thou, O beloved John, who, leaning thy head on the bosom of Jesus, didst then understand the tenderness of the love of this loving Redeemer for the souls that love him! Ah my sweet Lord, Thou hast frequently favored me with a similar grace. Yes, I too have felt the tenderness of Thy affection for me, when Thou didst console me with celestial lights and spiritual sweetness; but, after all Thy favors, I have not been faithful to Thee. Ah, do not permit me to live any longer ungrateful to Thy goodness. I wish to be all Thine: accept me and assist me.

[3] [25] He therefore, leaning on the breast of Jesus, saith to him: Lord, who is it?
Itaque cum recubuisset ille supra pectus Jesu, dicit ei : Domine, quis est? [John 13]

Jesus washes the disciples' feet. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

He riseth from supper, and layeth aside His garments, and having taken a towel girded Himself. After that He putteth water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.[4] My soul, behold thy Jesus, rising from the table, laying aside his garments, taking a white cloth and girding himself with it: he afterwards puts water into a basin, kneels down before his disciples, and begins to wash their feet.

Mary Magdalene washing Jesus' feet. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

Then the sovereign of the universe, the only-begotten of God, humbles himself so as to wash the feet of his creatures. O angels, what do you say? It would have been a great favor if Jesus Christ had permitted them, as he did Magdalene, to wash his divine feet with their tears. But no; he wished to place himself at the feet of his servants in order to leave us at the end of his life this great example of humility, and this proof of the great love that he bears to men.

[4] [4] He riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments, and having taken a towel, girded himself.
surgit a coena, et ponit vestimenta sua, et cum accepisset linteum, praecinxit se.
[5] After that, he putteth water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Deinde mittit aquam in pelvim, et coepit lavare pedes discipulorum, et extergere linteo, quo erat praecinctus.  [John 13]

And, O Lord, shall we be always so proud as not to be able to bear a word of contempt, or the smallest inattention, without instantly feeling resentment, and thinking of seeking revenge, after we had by our sins deserved to be trampled on by the devils in hell? Ah, my Jesus, Thy example has rendered humiliations and insults amiable to us. I purpose henceforth to bear every injury and affront for the love of Thee.