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<\/a><\/p>\nA few nights ago, The History Channel showed a documentary in which scientists attempted to create what may be the most realistic 3-D image of the face of Christ.<\/p>\n
They spent many months on the project, using sophisticated computer technology to craft the image from the Shroud of Turin.<\/p>\n
The result is the face of a young man with long hair, and a beard, and scars, and blood stains around his brow. The computer estimates that he\u2019d be about 5\u20198\u2033. He looks heavier, more muscular than most may think. But he otherwise looks very much the way any of us might imagine Jesus looked at the time of his death.<\/p>\n
What Jesus really looked like has fascinated us for centuries \u2013 and it\u2019s informed how he\u2019s been portrayed in art. And it\u2019s not just what he looked like, but what he did. We see him depicted so often in art as a crucified victim, or a good shepherd, or a teacher preaching to his followers.<\/p>\n
But tonight, on one of the holiest nights of the year, we are given a very different picture of Jesus. And it may be more surprising than anything you\u2019d see on the History Channel.<\/p>\n
We see him on his knees, wiping away dirt, washing feet.<\/p>\n
This is truly what it means to be Christ. He said so himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have given you a model to follow,\u201d he tells his apostles. \u201cSo that as I have done for you, you should also do.\u201d<\/p>\n
For all those who ask the perennial question, \u201cWhat would Jesus do?,\u201d here is your answer.<\/p>\n
And it comes at a surprising moment: on this night when we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist, and the institution of the priesthood. But the church does not offer us a gospel reading about Christ giving us himself in the form of bread and wine. Instead, it gives us this gospel reading.<\/p>\n
But the message, I think, is the same. Tonight, God gets down on his knees for us. Tonight, He lowers himself. Tonight, He becomes a servant to the world \u2014 as humble as a slave, as meager and plain as a crumb of bread.<\/p>\n
From this, we learn what it means to be like Christ.<\/p>\n
The overwhelming impression is surprising, and challenging. It is God becoming less\u2026so that we can become more.<\/p>\n
One of his last acts on earth, the last communal moment with his friends, is spent taking care of them, purifying them, removing the dust of the day. Perhaps he is anticipating the roads they will travel in the hours ahead. Maybe he is somehow getting them ready for the long journey ahead \u2014 missions they will undertake after he has gone, traveling by foot to bring the gospel to the world.<\/p>\n
I also think it is also a beautiful representation of the priesthood, and the sacrament of reconciliation. We all walk the earth carrying the debris of our lives \u2013 our failings, our sins, our weaknesses. They cling to us. But here, they are washed away. We are made new; we can begin again.<\/p>\n
And this, too, is what it means to be like Christ.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I have done for you, you should also do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Imitation of Christ begins with this moment. It is in the selfless service, doing what others won\u2019t do, or can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
It is people like Fr. Rick Frechette, in Haiti, performing surgery on the poorest people of the Western hemisphere\u2019s poorest country, and caring for those who cannot care for themselves, and quietly going to mass graves to pray for the dead when no one else will.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s aid workers in Sri Lanka and Sisters of Charity in the Bronx and missionaries in Nepal.<\/p>\n
And it is priests like those here tonight, and thousands around the world, who anoint our sick and offer absolution for our sins, and celebrate mass with one simple goal in mind \u2013 to save souls.<\/p>\n
At a moment when the priesthood is under attack, we can\u2019t forget those who are quietly, prayerfully, persistently doing God\u2019s work in our world \u2013 the great majority of good priests whose work often goes unnoticed. You won\u2019t see headlines about them in the New York Times.<\/p>\n
Years ago, when the AIDS crisis first broke, protestors showed up regularly at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral to throw condoms and protest the church\u2019s teachings about sex. But every week, Cardinal O\u2019Connor left his residence and went to St. Claire\u2019s Hospital in midtown to visit AIDS patients \u2014 to bathe them and empty their bedpans. No one ever knew about it. It wasn\u2019t reported until after he died. But that kind of work goes on today, in every corner of the world. I think of Bishop Daily, who rises early almost every Saturday, in every kind of weather, and puts on his coat and goes to the abortion clinic down on Austin Street, and stands outside, and simply prays the rosary. A humble, simple act that can change hearts and, maybe, save lives.<\/p>\n
That is what it means to be like Christ.<\/p>\n
That is what it means to wash feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I have done for you, you should also do.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is Christ\u2019s message to his followers \u2013 and to us.<\/p>\n
And so, this night, confronted with this challenging gospel reading, it\u2019s worth asking ourselves: what have\u00a0we<\/span> done? How many feet have we washed?<\/p>\nHow have I tried to imitate Christ?<\/p>\n
Science and technology can only tell us so much.\u00a0 The fact remains: if you want to really know what Jesus looked like, you won\u2019t find it on the History Channel. You won\u2019t even find it on the Shroud of Turin.<\/p>\n
Look, instead, to tonight\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n
Because here \u2013 on his knees before others, his head lowered in humility and in love, doing the work of a slave \u2013 here is where you see the true image of Christ.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Homily<\/strong><\/a> for the Mass of the Lord\u2019s Supper, 2010<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a Holy Thursday meditation, a blast from the past \u2026 A few nights ago, The History Channel showed a documentary in which scientists attempted to create what may be the most realistic 3-D image of the face of Christ. They spent many months on the project, using sophisticated computer technology to craft the image […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[419,11175],"class_list":["post-3315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","tag-holy-thursday","tag-homilies"],"yoast_head":"\n
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