Love One Another

Maundy Thursday. So many images, memories, meanings for me. This is one of the high points of the whole Easter drama for me. Washing feet. An act of such humility and so ordinary, so earthy. Not like baptism, which is so symbolic and barely resembles a bath. Not like the Eucharist, with its actions and ritual, its solemnity and sense of the sacred.

No, this is so ordinary. Water. Benches. Towels. Basins. Feet. And yet, I am moved to tears each and every year. Seeing my brothers and sisters caring for one another in this way. Serving one another. Demonstrating our love for one another.

This day is also the memorial of my mother's death. I don't remember the actual date, because that event is forever entwined with this one. I spent much of my day at the hospital with her, leaving only to attend church that evening. Leaving her resting but stable. In the middle of the service my pager went off and I left immediately for the hospital, fortunately arriving shortly before she died. I count myself so blessed to have held her as she breathed her last breath, her arm glistening with my tears. I later learned that my priest, seeing me leave quickly, knew what had happened and that my mother was memorialized at that celebration of the Eucharist. Almost immediately at her death, her name and memory were lifted to heaven by my faithful brothers and sisters.

More than Christmas, more than Easter, this particular day moves at the center of my life of faith. In simple acts of kindness and grace, we show to one another love. We answer our calling to be human. I find myself always on this day reminded that life is finite and filled with loss and grief, but that we are called to reach beyond the finite and beyond the hurt and to love one another. To touch and wash and heal and care. We are one family, bound together in sadness and joy.

I give you a new commandment: Love one another.