Jesus tells Peter: "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." (Jn 13: 8) If we take those words into our own hearts we are brought to confront our own relationship with the Lord. It is not simply a question of imitating the Lord in the washing of the feet but also allowing him to love and serve us first. If I am self sufficient and think I can aspire to act as Jesus did, without letting him love me first, then I have a problem. The church's doctrine on prevenient grace means that the action of God in Jesus Christ always comes first and precedes our own acts of love or service. What does it mean to let Christ love me and serve me? It means encountering him with openness and humility in the sacraments. The sacraments, all seven of them, speak of Christ loving, serving and healing his people. We cannot be so proud as to think that Christ needs us to help him in his salvific work it is out of his generosity and for our benefit that he allows us to cooperate in the work of salvation. Let us always be open to his grace and love and acknowledge our need of his healing and loving touch in our lives.
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