From the gospel of Holy Thursday: “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet."

From the second reading of Good Friday: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way . . . ."

From the epistle of Easter Vigil: “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. . . Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus."

Ten years ago this week, I took some of my seniors from Kansas City on a week long immersion trip to work in two grade schools in Memphis (Jubilee Schools) that were being run by Lasallians in the Midwest District. The Jubilee Schools are schools that meet the needs of the same urban, lower SES students that we seek to serve. All of my students had engaged in direct service to those in need as juniors, but none of them had done so in an educational setting. The reception that they received was phenomenal. Every day, they were mobbed with hugs upon arriving and leaving, escorting students to the restroom and the playground, or in helping with math and showing youngsters how to slide backwards down the slide. Every day, my students had demonstrated to them that “needy" students also needed love, care, and attention in their lives.

In our evening reflections, one of the activities that we regularly used was to list five things you were doing tomorrow and five people that you would be interacting with, and next to each activity and name, describe how you should act if you were living in De La Salle’s spirit of faith. In the middle of the week, one of the students said to us, “It doesn’t matter what activity or which student. Love them."

Thinking about Jesus’ actions during the Triduum and Easter, we might well arrive at the same summary. In all that he taught and did during this time, the message was just as simple: he loved us, and invited us to love God and one another. Just as my students learned so long ago that the essence of their service was to engage in love, may our prayer and lesson for the Triduum and Easter be a sharing of Christ’s love for us, so that we too may not only live in newness of life, but share it with those entrusted to our care.

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!