March 21, 2005

Have you considered why it was so appropriate that Mary should anoint the feet of Christ? (cf. John 12:1-11) Not only was He so completely the "Anointed One" from head to toe, but His feet were symbolic of His anointed mission as priest, prophet and king.

"On the one foot" we can ponder the tiredness and woundedness that our Savior experienced during His missionary journeys. "How precious are the feet of Him who brings Good News," as Isaiah foretold. Like all of the great prophets of old, the Lord did not experience much gratitude when He proclaimed His Father's plan. The weariness of His dusty feet indeed symbolizes a weariness that God seems to experience on another level by our constant rejection of His mercy (cf. Isaiah 7:13).

"On the other foot" we can ponder those steps directed toward Jerusalem - His footsteps up the hill of Calvary and His feet nailed to the Cross. As priest and victim the Lord did more for the world during those three hours when He was fastened there in obedience on the Cross than in His three years of public ministry. Francis Cardinal Van Thuan made this point very clearly when he spoke about how much more fruitful his time in prison was for the Church than his own pastoral ministry as a bishop before that.

We can join Mary in anointing the feet of Christ, not only by pondering His goodness to us "while we were yet sinners," but also by following in His footsteps. Mother Teresa's feet, made famous by photographers, told us that we can expect to be tired and wearied and worn by our proclamation of the Gospel in word and deed. Those whose feet are held fast by a cross of sickness, disability, accident, or old age, such as the Holy Father, Terri Schiavo and, for a while, our own Fr. Benedict, show us that the most powerful position in the world is to be on the Cross with Christ, the King of Kings.

Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR
Community Vicar, residing at St. Joseph Friary in Harlem, New York

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