At the Royal Palace in Paris, Eugene describes the Holy Thursday service where a prince washed the feet of a group of children during the liturgy<\/p>\n
\nI have just returned from accompanying my uncle to the Last Supper at the Tuileries\u2026 we saw, with astonishment beyond description, human grandeur lower itself, in imitation of the Word who humbled himself, at the feet of the poor and of the indigent. It was beautiful, impressive; one can utter on this subject fine phrases and moralize to the skies but what shall I say, my dear Court\u00e8s?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u2026 Here, led into the palace of an earthly king, I saw a vast gallery defiled everywhere by obscene statues, by pictures representing the unseemly divinities of paganism, surrounded by all the vanities of the age, by all the pomp of the world\u2026<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
This spectacle left him cold as he compared it with the way in which the same ceremony was celebrated with impressive devotion in Aix.<\/p>\n
\nThis remarkable spectacle was in no way comparable to our touching ceremony. Nothing brought it to mind, save the routine action of the washing of feet, and there again with quite a difference. Nothing reminded us of the imposing lesson which the Savior of men gave to the world. Neither the place or the persons or the spectators or even those who were the immediate object of the ceremony, nor the manner of doing it, nothing in a word spoke to the heart; mine at least felt not the least emotion: I only felt the regret that this spectacle naturally caused to spring in my soul by making me remember what we do\u2026<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Indulgence and curiosity were depicted in all faces. It was in such a setting that the prince approached a group of children ranged on a platform high enough so that he could pour water on their feet without stooping. These children, very well dressed and as little in keeping with the mystery as the undevout spectators, ill represented, it seemed to me, the apostles of the living God; they were not even members of the suffering God.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
So, I repeat, my heart remained unmoved; my indifferent mind presented to me no image, recalled no remembrance; it had to go elsewhere to dwell on the mysteries of the day and it is to Aix that it went to join your gathering; would that I had been able to be there entirely!<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to Hippolyte Court\u00e8s, 27 March 1823, EO VI n 98<\/em><\/p>\n
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“Outward acts of piety which do not flow from the God-given affections of the heart, which delight to depend on God and seek his glory are only legalism and have no value in honoring God.”<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 John Piper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the Royal Palace in Paris, Eugene describes the Holy Thursday service where a prince washed the feet of a group of children during the liturgy I have just returned from accompanying my uncle to the Last Supper at the … Continue reading