Testimonials
 
Fr Hugh Sinclair Spiritual Director St. Mary’ College, Oscott   Last January I had the great pleasure of spending two weeks in India living in a home for children with special needs. It was an uplifting experience; sharing the life of a community, in a very different culture, in a house that was full of simplicity and joy. In the house was a chapel where we would gather each morning for Mass. One significant difference from celebrating in this country was the fact that one left one’s shoes at the Chapel door, for all prayer was made barefoot; very easy in India where it was warm and footwear was invariably sandals. The children and staff tended to go barefoot all the time. This stepping into the Chapel unshod brought to mind that powerful incident in the Book of Exodus where Moses encounters God in the burning bush and God says to Moses, “Come no nearer… take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Ex. 3:5) The sensation of being barefoot, something fairly uncommon for a Westerner these days, brings home to one, more clearly, the realisation that one is stepping into a different place for a different purpose. This shedding of shoes was not something particular to the home, where most of the seventy or so residents were Hindus, but was common to all places of worship. Indeed, at Chennai at the cathedral there was a whole bank of pigeonholes for pilgrims to place their shoes on entering the splendid shrine of St. Thomas the Apostle. Have we in the west lost something of this by entering into the holy, being booted and spurred? Does our being shod speak more of self-sufficiency and security than of humility and poverty before God? It occurs to me that in addition to what we may have lost in terms of awareness we also run the risk of weakening our communion with the natural world. Remember the sensation of walking barefoot on grass or running across the warm sand on the beach? Indeed, in our world today, even if one is barefoot, it would be difficult for many people to walk on the earth as so much of our environment is covered in concrete or tarmac. All this brings to mind those beautiful words of the Jesuit poet, Gerald Manley Hopkins in his poem, ‘God’s Grandeur’: Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell; the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel being shod. And ALL is holy ground! For all is the handiwork of God, especially this planet Earth on which we live; and so we should walk on it barefoot, metaphorically at least if not literally. This has significance in the manner in which we relate to one another as well. For the Lord has called us to love one another, taking as our example the manner in which He loves us. In the Gospel of John, Jesus reveals the meaning of our being a Eucharistic people by washing the feet of his disciples. How significant that it is feet that he washes! “Do you understand… what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.” (Jn. 13:13-15). The reality of this incident in the gospel came home to me dramatically a few years ago when I was working as Chaplain in Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London. We were celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and I had explained to the congregation the significance of the washing of the feet; that it was not a charade but a symbolic representation of what it meant to celebrate the Mass, namely that we were to be people who responded lovingly to the needs of all as the Lord had done in His passion. (Incidentally, unlike many parishes, there was no shortage of feet to wash and both feet at that!). At the end of Mass I was standing at the back of the Chapel as the men returned to their cells. One young lifer came up to me and said, “Father, I’m glad you washed those men’s feet; now I know you love us.” Yes, holy ground; all is holy ground. If we can follow the example of the Lord and walk into one another’s lives with gentleness, with respect and love; leaving peaceful, healing footprints, then maybe the words of the Prophet Isaiah can apply to us: “How beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of one who brings good news…” (Is. 52:7). Fr Hugh Return to TestimonialsMedia%20Testimonials.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0
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