It’s Holy Thursday and all over the world, Catholic priests celebrating Mass will re-enact Christ washing the feet of his disciples the night before he died.
A recent article in Traces (“My Journey Begins Here, by Fabrizio Rossi, July-August, 2010) reports on the pilgrims who walk the Santiago de Compostela through the Pyrenees into Spain, as pilgrims have for centuries.
The piece quoted a man who, at one hostel along the route, washes the guests’ feet in a basin, by the light of a candle. “Many visitors are not Christians,” he said. “They enjoy trekking, they make the journey for sport, but when they receive this gift, they sense the meaning. They don’t say anything, they just weep.”