Holy Thursday 07

The Lord’s Supper 2007
St. Andrew’s Parish
April 5, 2007, 7:30pm

Introduction
As the Lenten journey comes to an end, this evening we begin the celebration of the Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. The Church's liturgy invites us to contemplate the mystery of the Cross, to acknowledge our sinfulness and, in faith, to unite ourselves with Jesus in his saving passover from death to life.

Holy Thursday is the night on which our Lord Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples. What went through the mind of the disciples on that night, we will never know. We can only imagine. What we do know is that Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from the world and to go to the Father. While Jesus had been preparing His disciples for some time, hinting to them that He was about to be betrayed and crucified, the disciples did not appear to perceive what Jesus was telling them.

As we now enter into the dramatic atmosphere of the coming days, filled with the remembrance of the passion and death of Christ, and his glorious resurrection on Easter Day, we celebrate this evening the Feast of Holy Thursday. There are three principal mysteries we solemnly commemorate in this Mass: First the institution of the Holy Eucharist; The institution of the priesthood; The New commandment of Christ to love one another.


The Eucharist
In harmony with the readings from the book of Exodus and from the letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, readings, today’s gospel according to John describes how Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover into the Eucharistic celebration. First, he washed their feet - a tender reminder of his undying affection and a quiet plea for them to do the same for each other and reminding us that our vocation is to take care of one another as he always takes care of us. Then he gave them his own body and blood as food, so that as long as they lived, they'd never be without the comfort and strength of his presence. Thus he washed their feet, fed them, and then went out to die.

The Institution of the Priesthood
This was followed by the institution of the priesthood with the command, “Do this in memory of me." An ordained minister who shares the priesthood in persona Christi has an important role in keeping the command of Jesus fulfilled for the people of God. The priests as ministers of the Sacraments and the Eucharist, are called to represent Christ in the community and giving example to everyone how to deepen and celebrate the mystery of the Eucharist with strong devotion. So that the presence of Christ’s paschal mystery pervades our daily lives as Christian community today and until the end of time.

The New Commandment to Love
Jesus began his Passover celebration by washing the feet of his disciples as a lesson in humble service because it was the duty of slaves. Again in the Gospel, Jesus gives us an example of the deepest kind of humility—he stoops to wash the disciples' feet. His purpose wasn't to clean feet; his purpose was to give us an example of relationships based on a pattern of divine humility.
If the divine Son so humbled himself, how much more ought we!

Christ’s example gives a message of humble and selfless service. Our celebration of the Eucharist requires that we wash one another’s feet, i.e., serve one another, and revere Christ's presence in other persons. It means that we become great only by serving others.
Jesus establishes then a close link between him washing the disciples' feet and the disciples washing the feet of others. If the Eucharist is the place where the Lord washes our feet, our daily life, our homes, our workplace, our parish community, is the place where we ought to wash the feet of others. Jesus who broke the bread of the Eucharist also washed the feet of his disciples. We must follow his example both at the altar of the Eucharist and at the altar of life.

Conclusion
But before we wash each others’ feet, as a sign of our humble service to one another, we must first of all allow ourselves to let the Lord wash us. As Jesus said to Peter, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me (John 13:8). First, the Lord washes us clean so that we belong to the Lord. Only then are we qualified and empowered to wash the feet of our sisters and brothers in the Lord. When this truth dawned on Peter, he overcame his reluctance and cried out, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" (v. 9). For this to happen all that the Lord needs from us is simply for us to be there, to present ourselves to him and to let him wash us.
Let us pray in that our celebration of the Last Supper, we may allow us to relive not only in memory of our Lord’s paschal mystery but bring its true message in our actions.

Let us ask the intercession of Holy Mary, who followed Jesus on the path of the passion and the cross, and who embraced him when he was taken down from the cross, let us pray that all of us who will participate fervently in the Easter triduum, will experience the joy of Easter together with all of our loved ones. Amen.





Resources:
1)VATICAN CITY, APRIL 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- From the address of Pope Benedict XVI he gave at the general audience today in St. Peter's Square. 2) http://www.liturgy.slu.edu/