Holy week is an intense week. Just think, between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday the priesthood was founded, the Holy Eucharist was established, Jesus taught us the basis of the Gospels, and He fulfilled the new covenant through His Passion. That is a heavy load to contemplate! Maybe that's why I never feel like I've prayed and sacrificed enough? It seems impossible to pay tribute and respect to such profound love, suffering, and commitment to the human race. Which brings me to a reoccurring theme in my life ... my unrealistic expectations for myself and consequently my feeling of failure.
For some reason I spent a lot of time thinking about Jesus washing the disciples' feet this week. Perhaps that because I've been doing A LOT of washing my daughter's feet - pretty much every day Monday through Friday. The sweet girl insists on wearing her "jellies" to preschool and by the time she gets home she has a pound of bark mulch and sand that pour out on the ground to reveal her black-as-night feet. It dawned on me that as mothers, we're so blessed to have been given this vocation. That we have to remind ourselves, and each other, that being a mom is a religious vocation and an important one. Through this beautiful sacrament we are given the inherent gift of servanthood. Yes .. we are blessed to have the opportunity every minute of every day to serve our husbands and the little people running around our houses.
In a way, because of our role as "mom" we are forced to love others the way Christ commanded us to love. Most of the time we don't even realize our simple acts of love; sometimes we're acutely aware of our sacrifices. We wash feet, butts, and little hands. Motherhood is a pathway to holiness - every day we say "yes" to selflessly putting other people's needs before our own and to loving without parameters.
And, because of the enormity of our vocation and the sheer amount of energy it requires to feed, bathe, teach, console, and just plain keep alive these precious souls, we need to give ourselves a break. We need to love ourselves and applaud our intentions as we do for those in our care. So when you are running late getting out the door to go to the "Stations of the Cross" on Good Friday and you notice that you have feet with two drastically different colors of nail polish on each foot, wear the sandals and run with it. You're doing the best you can.
