Right around the time that Holy Week begins I start thinking about this picture. While I wasn’t there when this was taken, one of my dear friends had her feet washed by her new husband, instead of doing the “traditional” hunt for the garter. As I embark on Holy Week this picture is at the forefront of my mind. This love is a humbling love, one that previews Heaven. The garter hunt can symbolize so much and it can be downright hilarious, but this act of simple charity witnesses to Christ’s love for His apostles. This act of love tells a new bride, “In the same way that Christ sacrificed Himself for His bride, I will sacrifice myself for you. That love begins today.”
I feel so blessed to know the couple in that photograph – their love and marriage are such a gift to everyone around them. The light in their eyes shines constantly as they continue to grow closer to God and closer together as husband and wife. In a few weeks’ time they will welcome their first little daughter into the world. In so many ways this act of love at their wedding was a preview of all that is to come in their lives: self-sacrificing love, both as husband and wife, but soon as parents.
This example of love, self-giving, humbling, honest and true, is what we are all called to. We are called to be images and living examples of Christ’s love. Washing the feet of another, metaphorically or literally, is only one way that we can show His love to those around us. Holy Week invites us to a time of deeper reflection on just how we can become His hands and feet. When Jesus washed the feet of Peter, Peter asked if Jesus would also wash his hands and feet. However, Jesus responded that Peter only needed to have his feet washed. Whose feet can you wash? Who can you show Christ’s Agape love to? How is Christ calling you to be His hands and feet, which in only a few days’ time will be nailed to the cross?
