04/02/26 Holy Thursday: Everything is Given

In this powerful Holy Thursday homily, Fr. Mike Schmitz reflects on the profound meaning of Jesus' act of washing the disciples' feet as a symbol of complete self-giving love. He emphasizes that Lent's call to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is not about checking boxes, but about aligning our motives with Christ's: love. The central theme is that 'everything is given'—Jesus stripped Himself of dignity, offered His body in the Eucharist, and established the priesthood—all out of love. Most strikingly, Fr. Schmitz highlights that Jesus gave everything not despite knowing the disciples would betray, deny, and abandon Him, but precisely because He knew. This moment of full awareness—when Jesus knew all their failures and yet still loved—reveals the depth of divine love: given not because we deserve it, but because we need it. Drawing from the film *Fireproof*, he illustrates how true love is most evident not in perfection, but in sacrifice made when love is unreturned. The homily culminates in a call to recognize that God's love for us is most powerful not in our best moments, but in our brokenness—when we've rejected Him, and He still gives everything.