PROSPECT HEIGHTS – Chris Campo said he was “humbled” to have his feet washed by Bishop Robert Brennan at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.

Campo was one of 12 people who participated in the ritual of the washing of the feet at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph on April 2.

At the Mass, which marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum, Bishop Brennan used a pitcher of water, a basin, and a towel to do as Christ once did.

Bishop Brennan celebrated the Mass, which was concelebrated by Msgr. Joseph Grimaldi, vicar general for the diocese; Father Patrick Keating, rector of the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph; Msgr. Sean Ogle, vicar for clergy and consecrated life in the diocese, Father Vincente Villamil and Father Pascal Louis, parochial vicars for the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph; Father Hilaire Belizaire, pastor of St. Jerome Church; and Father John Hwang, master of ceremonies to Bishop Brennan.

In his homily, Msgr. Ogle emphasized the humble nature not only of the ritual of the washing of the feet as described in John 13:1-17, but also the sacrificial way in which Christ set an example for the disciples and for humanity.

“His actions are a parable of his own incarnation,” Msgr. Ogle said. “But then he did more, as if to show them that he just didn’t want them to act well. He illuminated the example he gave them with the light of a divine self-gift.

“That same body that kneeled and washed their feet is the same body that broke the bread and shared the chalice.”

At the Lord’s Supper, he explained, “Christ used his body to serve them, but in the Eucharist, he gave them his body to save them.”

The holy orders and the Eucharist, two of the seven sacraments in the Catholic Church, originate from those humble moments.

And on that night, Msgr. Ogle added, a pitcher, a basin, and a towel, “staples of everyday life on this night, became instruments of our rescue from sin.”

As Christ did for them, each person can also do “good deeds of humble servitude” in their everyday life, he added.