Before the feast of Passover, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to His Father, Jesus, who had loved His own who were in the world, gave them one last mark of His love. During the supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, the plan to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given everything into His hands, that He had come out of God and was returning to God, rose from the table, laid down His clothes, and taking a towel He girded Himself. Then, pouring water into a basin, He began to wash the feet of His Disciples and wipe them with the towel He had girded Himself with. He came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, “Lord, You wash my feet!” Jesus said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to Him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus said to him, “If I do not wash your feet, you will have nothing to share with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He that has bathed has need only to wash his feet, for he is clean throughout. And you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew who was to betray Him, and therefore He said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when He had washed their feet and taken off His clothes, He sat down again at the table and said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Master and Lord, and you are right, for I am. If then I have washed your feet, I, the Lord and the Master, you also must wash one another’s feet, for I have given you an example, so that what I have done to you, you may also do it to others.
R/. Praise be to Thee, O Christ.