Bare Feet

It has been a reallly long time since I went to Holy Thursday mass. It was so awesome. I'm not a really mushy gushy religious person (and I think if you are - that's great!). But sitting there tonight watching the priests wash each other's feet and then the congregation could do the same with each other if they wanted (and so many wanted to that it took like 40 minutes), I thought "I wish I had my kids here to do this". I thought, I wash their feet all the time and the rest of their little bodies too. This, though, was something else. It was reverent, respectful, nurturing. It was powerful.

SO much happens at Holy Thursday mass. The oils are put in their place after being received today at the cathedral mass consecrating them. The eucharist is reposed. The altar is stripped. The feet are washed. The feeling is something eminent is near. The lights are dimmed at the end and the church goes to sleep almost, waiting. The ritual of it all is comforting and foreboding too.

There is a lot that I question about my religion, but I don't question my faith. Carl's Grandma was doing poorly recently and we visited. She said to me while I was there with her alone - "If Jesus can suffer on the cross for me like he did, I can surely bear this suffering. It must be nothing like what he felt." It's really more than your mind can wrap itself around when you think that Jesus loved us so much, he suffered for us. When He says, "Love one another as I have loved you", He is saying sacrifice, charity, service, and a little suffering go along way to further mankind. To advance, we must fall along the way. Stumble and get up, over and over and over.

I'm going to Good Friday mass tomorrow, we'll see what revelations come from that. I always need a box of kleenex too!