Sermo De Unctione Capitis Et De Pedibus Lavandis

Sermon on the Anointing of the Head and the Washing of the Feet. What the infusion of chrism signifies in the baptized. The six things to be fulfilled in the Mass for Baptism. Thus far we have spoken of the mysteries which are celebrated either before the sacrament of Baptism or in Baptism itself; now we are about to treat of those things which are fulfilled by holy institution for those already baptized. For when Baptism is completed, we pour chrism, that is, oil of sanctification, upon your head; by which it is shown that a royal and priestly dignity is conferred upon the baptized by the Lord. For in the Old Testament, those who were chosen for the priesthood or for kingship were anointed with holy oil; and by the anointing of the head, some received from the Lord the power to rule among the people of God, others to offer sacrifices. Just as we read that holy David and the other kings were anointed by the Prophets, and were changed from private persons into kings by the sanctification of oil; so also we read that holy Aaron was anointed by Moses, consecrated from a layman into a priest of the Lord with holy oil. Whence it is sung in the Psalm, "Like ointment on the head, which descends into the beard, the beard of Aaron" (Ps. 132:2). But that oil in the Old Testament conferred a temporal kingdom, a temporal priesthood; for it was to be administered in this life, which is terminated by the course of a few years. This chrism, however, that is, this anointing which has been placed upon you, has conferred upon you the dignity of that kingdom, of that priesthood, which, once conferred, is never to be ended.

You are perhaps wondering that we said you have obtained the kingdom of future glory and the priesthood through that chrism. It is not I, but the apostle Peter—or rather, through the Apostle, Christ—who proclaims this dignity to you. For thus he speaks to the faithful, that is, to those who have been washed by Baptism and consecrated by chrism: "But you are a royal and priestly race, a holy people, a people of acquisition; so that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you from darkness into his admirable light" (1 Pet. 2:9). Consider, therefore, the honor which you have obtained in that mystery, and beware lest, having become sons of the kingdom through Baptism after your sins, you should wish, by sinning again (which God forbid), to become sons of Gehenna. For how do you think God would be angry, if after his benefits, after the forgiveness of sins, you should wish to return to sinning, so that, having been adopted as sons of God, you should again, like servants despising God, wish to do the devil's will?

After all the sacraments were completed, we also handed on to you the mandate, both by example and by word. We washed the feet of each one, urging you to imitate us—or rather, the Lord and Savior Himself—so that just as we washed your feet, you also ought to wash the feet of your brothers and guests. We teach you not only to be hospitable, but also to honor guests humbly, those whom you have received into your hospitality, so that you do not blush to fulfill the office of servants toward them. But if anyone considers this injurious, and, puffed up with diabolical pride, disdains to carry out the Lord’s command—and although he is noble in the world, blushes to wash the feet of poor and contemptible Christians in this world—yet He who both commanded this and did it, indeed deigned to do it before commanding, since He set the example first, so that He might more easily commend the precept. For thus we read in the Gospel about the Lord Jesus: “Knowing,” it says, “that the Father had given everything into His hands, and that He came from God and goes to God, He rose from supper, and put aside His garments; and having taken a linen cloth, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the linen cloth with which He was girded. And again, after He had washed their feet, He took up His garments; and when He had reclined again, He said to them: ‘Do you know what I have done for you? You call me Master and Lord, and you say well; for I am.’

If, therefore, I have washed your feet, I, the Lord and Master, how much more ought you to wash one another’s feet? For I have given an example by my deeds: just as I do to you, so also you should do. Amen, amen I say to you, that a servant is not greater than his master, nor an apostle greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them (John 13:5-5; 12:17). Consider therefore, most beloved brothers, of what wretchedness, of what madness it is, that a servant disdains to wash the feet of a fellow servant, a disciple of a fellow disciple, when the Lord and Master of all servants and disciples deigned to wash feet. He humbled Himself to those beneath Him; we, however, disdain to be humbled to equals and often to betters. This comes from nothing other than disbelief in future things. For if we truly and with our whole heart believed that through these precepts of the Lord, which we observe in the brief time of our life, we are to attain eternal and heavenly rewards, we would not only not blush to fulfill all works of humility, but would even glory in them.

Commend therefore firmly to your memory what you have heard from us, and what you have promised to us—nay, to the Lord. And let no tribulation of this present life ever take away from you the recollection of your pledge. Fulfill all the commands you have heard; fulfill all that you have promised. Do not become like the people of the Jews, who, when they had heard the precepts of God, indeed rightly said, "All that the Lord has commanded us, we will hear and we will do them"; but what they had well promised, they neglected. For they pleased God when they promised that they would keep his commandments. Thus indeed we read that the people of Israel said to Moses: "Go, you, and hear all that our Lord God speaks to you, and you will speak to us. All that our Lord God speaks to us, we will both hear and do." And the Lord said to Moses, "I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken. Who will give that their heart be in them, so that they fear me and observe my precepts all their days" (Deut. 5:27-29)? They pleased God, therefore, as we have said, when indeed they promised that they would do his commandments; but they displeased him when, once the commandments were set before them and what they had promised to keep, they transgressed them. For concerning them the prophet speaks, saying, "They loved him with their mouth, and with their tongue they lied to him" (Ps.

This is to love God with the mouth and not with the heart: that they promise they will do the will of God, but their tongue lies, and they flee to do the will of the devil, provoking almighty God to wrath, who does not suffer himself to be mocked. He who sees all the works of men, however secretly done; he who hears all words, however secretly whispered; he who understands and knows all the thoughts of all, will judge most severely. He does not always punish his despisers here for this reason, because he has decreed that there will be a judgment in the future, where eternal condemnation and perpetual punishment are kept for those who sin. There will be weeping of eyes and gnashing of teeth. There, as the Lord himself says: Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be extinguished (Isaiah 66:24). But you, most beloved brothers, we believe in the name of the Lord, that you do not hear our words, rather divine words, in a transitory way: because what we say to you, we borrow from the holy and divine scriptures. We hope in the Lord that you will do all that you have promised, with God helping you in holy works, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ himself; to whom is glory and honor with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.