April 26, 2026 - Fourth Sunday of Easter

[00:00:07] Welcome back. We have reached the fourth Sunday of Easter. [00:00:11] It's April 26th and is the World Day of prayer for vocations. [00:00:27] As part of the Liturgy of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday evening, most modern popes have washed the feet of 12 priests and other clergy at St. Peter's Basilica or the Arch Basilica of St. John Lateran as a ritual remembrance of Jesus, who washed the feet of the apostles during the Last Supper. [00:00:50] In 2013, the late Pope Francis set a precedent for future Holy Thursday mendatum rituals by washing and kissing the feet of 12 inmates, including two women and two people of the Muslim faith at the Casal de Marmo juvenile detention center in Rome. [00:01:12] In 2024, he washed the feet of 12 women at a women's prison on the outskirts of Rome. [00:01:20] He washed the feet of refugees and countless other prisoners. Throughout his papacy, the commemoration of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples continues all over the world to this day. [00:01:35] Many parish priests participate in this tradition on Holy Thursday in imitation of Jesus, who demonstrated how we too are called to humbly love and serve others. [00:01:57] And now for today's homily. Imperfect apostles offer hope. [00:02:06] The disciples were anything but perfect. And the Gospels tell me more about their faults than their virtues. [00:02:14] I know that they bickered and they fought over who was first and who was last. [00:02:20] They were thick headed, they frustrated Jesus, they doubted, they wanted power. [00:02:28] Peter denied Jesus, they deserted him. [00:02:32] They didn't even go to his funeral. [00:02:35] They were full of problems and they were the same until the day they died. [00:02:41] They weren't famous either. [00:02:43] I don't hear anything more about them after Pentecost. [00:02:47] I hear a little about one or two Peter, of course, but mostly all I have are legends about the apostles. [00:02:56] Most of the apostles are never spoken of again in the rest of the scriptures. [00:03:08] Jesus didn't ask the apostles to be perfect or famous, though he called them to be great. [00:03:14] And he put greatness within their reach. [00:03:20] After he breathed forth the breath of God over the disciples, Jesus commissioned them to go out and be the greatest forgivers in the world. [00:03:30] That wouldn't make them famous, it wouldn't make them perfect, but it would make them great. [00:03:42] Jesus puts greatness within my reach too. [00:03:46] I can't walk on water, but I can be a foot washer. And Jesus said that's what greatness is. [00:03:53] He never said to walk on water like he did. [00:03:56] He just told me to wash feet like he did. [00:04:04] That is greatness. [00:04:07] I'm still a sinner, but the breath of God that is within me calls me to greatness. [00:04:42] Spend some quiet time with the Lord.