Of what does "washing one another's feet" consist? What does it actually mean? This: every good work for others - especially for the suffering and those not considered to be worth much - is a service of the washing of feet. The Lord calls us to do this: to come down, learn humility and the courage of goodness, and also the readiness to accept rejection and yet to trust in goodness and persevere in it.
But there is another, deeper dimension. The Lord removes the dirt from us with the purifying power of his goodness.
Washing one another's feet means above all tirelessly forgiving one another, beginning together ever anew, however pointless it may seem. It means purifying one another by bearing with one another and by being tolerant of others; purifying one another, giving one another the sanctifying power of the Word of God and introducing one another into the Sacrament of divine love.
Pope Benedict XVI
Mass of the Lord’s Supper
13 april 2006