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“The word 'listen' contains the same letters as the word 'silent'.”
― Alfred Brendel
“Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
― Nelson Mandela
“Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving someone of their wrong. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim--letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor.”
― C.R. Strahan
"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving."
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 19th century, writer and scientist
"The measure of a man is what he does with power."
-Plato, 4th century B.C.E.
“Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him... Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet...” (from John 13:1-17)
Dear Friends,
As we conclude our Lenten journey and begin to make our approach into Holy Week, I began thinking about one of the most powerful acts of servitude Jesus does within his ministry: washing the feet of his disciples after sharing a final Passover meal with them. Jesus knelt down and washed the feet of each disciple, even the one who would soon betray him.
For centuries, it has been a papal tradition that the Pope commemorates Jesus’s act by washing the feet of twelve Vatican priests. It became a beautiful ritual, one that eventually lost any real power or impact. In the usual tradition, on Holy (Maundy) Thursday Pope Francis washed the feet of twelve priests... and then he opened the circle much wider. He knelt down and began to wash the feet of women, Muslim migrants, prison inmates, the homeless, the disabled, and the dispossessed. Many were appalled that the Pope would do such a thing. And in doing so, the ritual of Jesus’s act of servant-leadership had regained its shocking, inspiring impact once again.
Sometimes, the only thing harder than humbling ourselves to “wash the feet” of others, is to allow our own “feet to be washed.” Accepting and receiving the deepest love of another is often (paradoxically) more difficult than providing that kind of love. Peter struggled with it. He initially refused to allow Jesus to wash his dusty feet. But Jesus modeled how we are to act with one another by kneeling before his friends: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
We are told by Jesus to assume a posture of humility and care for the needs of those around us, sometimes the most physical and tangible needs. And just as importantly, we are told by Jesus to allow others to care for us in the same way. This can be the deeper challenge for many of us, as it was for Peter. May we have the grace to both give andreceive humble, loving care, in the way our Servant-Leader, Jesus, showed his disciples.
Yours on the Journey,
Jennifer
“Generosity is not in giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is in giving me that which you need more than I do.”
― Kahlil Gibran
“That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.”
― Simone de Beauvoir