Pope FAQ - The Washing of the Feet
Question: What's up with the Washing of the Feet?
Answer: Traditionally during Holy Thursday services the presiding priest, be he the Pope or a local dude just out of the seminary, washes the feet of some of the parishioners. This is done in imitation of the action of Jesus to His disciples at the Last Supper, which was meant as a showing of humility and servitude. Back in the day, this was a relatively easy ritual to pull off, as people where walking around in sandals on dirt roads and thus had dirty feet that needed a washing . In the 1100's you couldn't throw a commemorative spoon in a church without hitting someone more than happy to let a priest take a lufa to their bunions.
Recently, however, finding people to take part in the washing of the feet has become more difficult. In our modern world of cell phones, jet planes and odor-eaters, very few people actually need their feet washed. Pretty much everyone wears shoes, and most of us even wear socks. In fact the only people that really need a foot washing are those that still wear sandals: dirty hippies. This present an obvious problem, as the church needs dirty feet to continue the tradition, but considers being a hippie a sin*.
Some of the more conservation parishes have taken to artificially dirtying the feet of good, God-fearing, Elvis-loving parishioners with dirt bought from local plant nurseries to provide themselves with participants. Other parishes, however, have attempted to trick hippies into church with a promise of wacky weed, tofu and and a rare 1972 bootleg of the Grateful Dead at the Rose Bowl, assuming that once they experience the sheer joy of soap and water applied to the skin they will immediately repent and at the very least start listening to Foghat. And still other churches have taken to luring hippies in the aforementioned way and then beating them unconscious with their own birkenstocks once they have them inside, which has little to do with the washing of the feet, but is still a fun way to spend a Thursday evening.
*That's not exactly true. Technically, simply being a hippy is not a sin, but it is engaging in illicit hippie acts that is sinful.
Answer: Traditionally during Holy Thursday services the presiding priest, be he the Pope or a local dude just out of the seminary, washes the feet of some of the parishioners. This is done in imitation of the action of Jesus to His disciples at the Last Supper, which was meant as a showing of humility and servitude. Back in the day, this was a relatively easy ritual to pull off, as people where walking around in sandals on dirt roads and thus had dirty feet that needed a washing . In the 1100's you couldn't throw a commemorative spoon in a church without hitting someone more than happy to let a priest take a lufa to their bunions.
Recently, however, finding people to take part in the washing of the feet has become more difficult. In our modern world of cell phones, jet planes and odor-eaters, very few people actually need their feet washed. Pretty much everyone wears shoes, and most of us even wear socks. In fact the only people that really need a foot washing are those that still wear sandals: dirty hippies. This present an obvious problem, as the church needs dirty feet to continue the tradition, but considers being a hippie a sin*.
Some of the more conservation parishes have taken to artificially dirtying the feet of good, God-fearing, Elvis-loving parishioners with dirt bought from local plant nurseries to provide themselves with participants. Other parishes, however, have attempted to trick hippies into church with a promise of wacky weed, tofu and and a rare 1972 bootleg of the Grateful Dead at the Rose Bowl, assuming that once they experience the sheer joy of soap and water applied to the skin they will immediately repent and at the very least start listening to Foghat. And still other churches have taken to luring hippies in the aforementioned way and then beating them unconscious with their own birkenstocks once they have them inside, which has little to do with the washing of the feet, but is still a fun way to spend a Thursday evening.
*That's not exactly true. Technically, simply being a hippy is not a sin, but it is engaging in illicit hippie acts that is sinful.
posted by BertramWooster at 1:41 PM
2 Comments:
This has nothing to do with feet (naturally dirty or otherwise), hippies, or Catholics who love Elvis (and hey, don't we all?)
What do you think of the announcement made by the Italian government to name a mountain in the Gran Rasso region of the Appennines in honour of his upcoming birthday on May 18? (hey, JP the 2 is a Taurus- makes sense!)
-C
I'm all for naming things after Popes (I called my car in high school Marcellus II - because I liked pulp fiction and the car was green and Marcellus II father was Apostolic treasurer in the March of Ancona. The only problem I have with it is the pope is still alive. I have never been a fan of naming things after living people. I mean what happens if there is an avalance and a bunch of kids get killed, then they have to say on the news that "25 children were crushed to death by the rocks of John Paul II" and that's just awkward. The only reason I see to name something after a living person is to try to influence an election. Imagine, for example, it is the fall of 2004 in Florida, a swing state. A hurricane comes crashing in and devastates the stateon November 2, right around the end of hurricane season. Now imagine if that hurricane had been named either Bush or Kerry. For the 2-3 days running up to the election TV news and newspapers all over the country would have headlines like "Kerry kills 50 in Florida" or "Florida devistated by destructive Bush"... the other guy would have won in a, umm, landslide. Other than for influence the outcome of American presidential elections, though, I don't think we should name things, especially natural things, after living people.
Post a Comment
<< Home