Holy Thursday
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Feast Day Gospel Reflections by Sister Barbara Thiella

Today’s Gospel is Saint John’s account of the Eucharist. In place of Jesus’ actions and words that transform the bread and the wine, John describes how a community that eats Jesus’ body and blood will be recognized. A community formed by the Eucharist is about foot washing in its own time and place.

This gospel sent me back in time 50 years to preparation for first vows. Jim Mara, S.J., used this account and the words of the other Gospels, “Take, bless, break and give” to paint the believer’s response to the gift given in Baptism. He described the vowed life as one viable way to become what we eat: the Body of Christ that washes feet.

The Eucharistic story in John joins with the Eucharistic words in Matthew, Mark and Luke to paint how to receive God’s invitation to love. If I allow God to take me up and bless me, then God will allow life to break me open so I, too, can be given as gift.

Jesus’ act of washing his friends’ feet is his public embracing of the good news that he has proclaimed: he is the servant who will be taken up and given. Jesus acknowledges that he will be poured out. The beatitudes were not just words on afternoon on a hillside .His lifelong public witness to the love of Abba ends with his acceptance of God’s unconditional love no matter what the consequences.

Such a simple action captured Jesus’ life before he stepped into the events that end with His death on a cross. Our lifelong public witness of becoming the Body of Christ translates the act of foot washing into the 21st century. Corita Kent, an artist of the 20th century, said, “Love the moment and the energy of that moment will spread beyond boundaries.” Like Jesus, may we welcome God’s invitation to wash feet and so show to our world that we accept the love of Abba who will raise us like Jesus.

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 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.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

            This is the Gospel of the Lord.

 

Sister Barbara Thiella

Sr. Barbara Thiella, SNDdeN, daughter of John D. and Edna F. Dutcher Thiella, was born in San Francisco, California, on April 26, 1939. She was the first of two children. Her brother John is an attorney.

Barbara entered the California Province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in1957, receiving the name Sr. Andrea. She attended Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, earning a degree in liberal arts and a California teaching credential. Then, she studied at the University of San Francisco and obtained a graduate degree in theology and a California credential in school administration. Later, she received a credential from the State of Hawaii.

Sister Barbara has spent half of her years of ministry in formal education and the other half in leadership roles for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the Catholic Church at the diocesan level.

Within Notre Dame schools, Sister Barbara has served as a teacher and administrator in the Dioceses of San Francisco, Monterey, Sacramento and Honolulu. She also worked at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, as a Campus Minister. As Vice Chancellor in the Diocese of Oakland, Sister Barbara facilitated the Second Pastoral Convocation and the ensuing Diocesan Pastoral Council. The California Province of the Sisters of Notre Dame called her first to direct personnel planning and then to be a member of the California Leadership team. Since 2000, Sister Barbara has been Chancellor in the Diocese of Stockton with a particular care for diocesan ministries that offer resources and training to 34 parishes and 12 missions.

Sister Barbara has used her training and skills in pastoral theology and administration, research and development, in service to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, dioceses in the Northern California Province, other religious communities, schools and seminaries. As a woman of the Church, Sister Barbara offers her life to affirm goodness in persons and institutions and to build together with others towards an inclusive community. As a Sister of Notre Dame, she cherishes the gospel call to seek for goodness in all aspects of life. The communal dedication of the Sisters of Notre Dame challenges and strengthens her own following of Jesus Christ.