The Towel and the Basin: The Foundation of Intimacy
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
John 13:1-17
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and 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 answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.”
Grace Prayed For
“Lord Jesus, give me the grace to receive your love deeply — to let you wash my heart — and to share that love humbly and generously with all I meet.”
Reflection
This moment in the upper room reveals the very heart of intimacy with Jesus: love expressed through humble service. Before his Passion, knowing the suffering that awaited him, Jesus chose to kneel before his friends. He stripped himself of all status, took on the posture of a servant, and touched the dust of their lives. In this gesture, love itself bent low — not out of duty, but out of desire to draw his disciples into communion with his Father’s love.
Jesus invites me into this same intimacy. He wants to wash the places in me that are weary, soiled, or resistant — the parts I hide because I fear they are unworthy of his touch. But he kneels there, basin in hand, waiting for my “yes.” To receive his love is to let him serve me in my weakness, to trust that I am lovable not because of what I do, but because of who I am to him — his beloved.
In this encounter, Jesus doesn’t just show love; he establishes the pattern of the Christian life. The intimacy he offers is not meant to be contained within prayer but to overflow into every encounter. The same hands that have been washed by Christ are now sent to wash the feet of others — to serve, to forgive, to heal, to lift up. Love becomes mission.
Each act of humble service, each moment I choose compassion over convenience, becomes a participation in Christ’s redemptive work. When I forgive, when I listen, when I serve without recognition — I am proclaiming with my life that Jesus’s love has transformed me. The more I receive that love, the more I become its channel, helping to restore God’s creation one encounter at a time.
Announcing Jesus in Our Lives
Evangelizing in Daily Life
- Serve with gentleness. Look for simple, unnoticed ways to lighten someone’s burden — small acts of love reveal Christ.
- Listen with presence. In a distracted world, your attentive listening becomes a form of sacred hospitality.
- Speak with gratitude. Let words of thanksgiving and hope flow naturally — they witness to your joy in being loved by God.
- Forgive quickly. In mercy freely given, others glimpse the mercy of Christ.
- Live Eucharistically. Offer your daily work, relationships, and struggles as participation in Jesus’s self-giving love for the world.
Each of these transforms ordinary moments into divine encounters — the places where Christ’s intimacy becomes visible in the world.
When Time Allows Reflect on the Posts in Library and Musings
Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post