Why Do We Wash Feet on Maundy Thursday?
On Maundy Thursday, the Church kneels. Priests wash parishioners’ feet, and in some communities parishioners wash one another’s. The gesture is not symbolic theater; it is a reenactment of the moment in John 13 when Jesus rises from supper, ties a towel around His waist, and takes the posture of a servant. In a world where feet were dusty and status was everything, He reverses the hierarchy. He kneels before His friends. The early Church understood this act as three things at once: Humility embodied — the Lord takes the lowest place. Preparation for communion — a cleansing before receiving His Body and Blood. A command to imitate — “I have given you an example,” He says, not a suggestion. That command is the heart of the day. What “Maundy” Means “Maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum , the first word of the antiphon sung during the foot washing: Mandatum novum do vobis — “A new commandment I give you.” The name points not to the Last Supper meal itself, but to the c...