9. Dicit ei Simon Petrus: 9. Simon Peter saith to him: Domine, non tantum pedes meos, Lord, not only my feet, but sed et manus, et caput. also my hands and my head. 10. Dicit ei Iesus: Qui lotus 10. Jesus saith to him: He est, non indiget nisi ut pedes that is washed, needeth not lavet, sed est mundus totus. but to wash his feet, but is Et vos mundi estis, sed non clean wholly. And you are omnes. clean, but not all. 10. *Jesus saith to him: He that is washed* (rather _bathed_), *needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly*. Some ancient authorities omit the words “but” and “his feet,” and the meaning whether in regard to body or soul is then clear and simple, namely, that he who has bathed has no need to wash, but is already clean. However, the words are much more probably genuine; and the difficulty they create is doubtless the reason why they are wanting in some authorities. Taking them as genuine, then, let us try to explain the verse. Some have understood our Lord to speak only of a corporal washing, as if He merely meant that the Apostles who had bathed, or at least washed their hands before this Supper (see above on ii. 6), now needed nothing except to have their feet washed. But the common opinion of commentators understands our Lord to speak of a spiritual washing, of which the washing of the feet was a symbol, and this view we accept. For the closing words of the verse: “And you are clean, but not all” when taken together with St. John’s explanation in verse 11, leave no doubt that our Lord speaks of spiritual cleanness, and therefore we may fairly conclude that He speaks also of a spiritual washing. He was about to wash their feet literally, but He intended that ceremony as a symbol of the higher cleansing process required of them and others as a fitting preparation before receiving the Blessed Eucharist. Such preparation was not absolutely necessary in their case, for they were already clean from mortal sin, but it was fitting and in some sense required, in order that they might remove the dust of venial sin, which was daily clinging to them in their contact with the world. It is clearly implied that if they had not been clean, that is to say, free from mortal sin, a more thorough cleansing would have necessary. The meaning, then, seems to be that one who has bathed spiritually by having his soul cleansed from mortal sin, needs afterwards, as a fitting preparation for the Blessed Eucharist, merely that limited cleansing that was symbolized by the washing of only the feet.