Year A – Holy (Maundy) Thursday

REFLECTION 1

HOMILY STARTER ANECDOTES

# 1: Man in the International Space Station Astronaut Mike Hopkins was one of the select few who spent six months on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013. And though he was thrilled when he was chosen for a space mission, there was one Person he didn’t want to leave behind: Jesus in the Eucharist. Hopkins had been received into the Church less than a year before his launch. After a long wait, he was finally able to receive Our Lord at each Mass. Facing the prospect of being off the planet for half a year, he decided he had to find out if Jesus could travel with him. It turns out Jesus could — and He did. Hopkins says, “In 2011, I got assigned to a mission to the International Space Station. I was going to go up and spend six months in space, starting in 2013. So I started asking the question, ‘Is there any chance I can take the Eucharist up with me into space?’ The weekend before I left for Russia — we launched on a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan — I went to Mass one last time, and the priest [with permission from his bishop] consecrated the wafers into the Body of Christ, and I was able to take the pyx with me. NASA has been great. … They didn’t have any reservations about me taking the Eucharist up or to practicing my Faith on orbit. The Russians were amazing. I went in with all my personal items, and I explained what the pyx was and the meaning of it to me — because for them, they, of course, saw it just as bread, if you will, the wafers — and yet for me [I knew] it was the Body of Christ. And they completely understood and said, ‘Okay, we’ll estimate it weighs this much, and no problem. You can keep it with you.’ All these doors opened up, and I was able to take the Eucharist up — and I was able to have Communion, basically, every week. There were a couple of times when I received Communion on, I’ll say, special occasions: I did two spacewalks; so on the morning of both of those days, when I went out for the spacewalk, I had Communion. It was really helpful for me to know that Jesus was with me when I went out the hatch into the vacuum of space. And then I received my last Communion on my last day on orbit in the “Cupola,” which is this large window that looks down at the Earth, and that was a very special moment before I came home.”

# 2. The Stole and the Towel is the title of a book, which sums up the message of the Italian bishop, Tony Bello, who died of cancer at the age of 58. On Maundy Thursday of 1993, while on his deathbed, he dictated a pastoral letter to the priests of his diocese. He called upon them to be bound by “the stole and the towel.” The stole symbolizes union with Christ in the Eucharist, and the towel symbolizes union with humanity by service. The priest is called upon to be united with the Lord in the Eucharist and with the people as their servant. Today we celebrate the institution of both the Eucharist and the priesthood: the feast of “the stole and the towel,” the feast of love and service. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

# 3: Why is the other side empty? Have you ever noticed that in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper everybody is on one side of the table? The other side is empty. “Why’s that?” someone asked the great artist. His answer was simple. “So that there may be plenty of room for us to join them.” — Want to let Jesus do his thing on earth through you? Then pull up a chair and receive Him into your heart, especially in Holy Week.

# 4. Communion on the moon: The Lord’s Supper ensures that we can remember Jesus from any place. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969. Most remember astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first words as he stepped onto the moon’s surface: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But few know about the first meal eaten on the moon. Dennis Fisher reports that Buzz Aldrin, the NASA astronaut, had taken aboard the spacecraft a tiny pyx provided by his Catholic pastor. (Aldrin was Catholic, probably until his second marriage, when he became a Presbyterian. See the Snopes citation given below). Aldrin sent a radio broadcast to Earth asking listeners to contemplate the events of the day and give thanks. Then, blacking out the broadcast for privacy, Aldrin read, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” Then, silently, he gave thanks for their successful journey to the moon and received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, surrendering the moon to Jesus. Next, he descended on the moon and walked on it with Neil Armstrong [Dan Gulley, “Communion on the Moon,” Our Daily Bread (June/July/August, 2007)]. — His actions remind us that in the Lord’s Supper, God’s children can share the life of Jesus from any place on Earth, and even from the moon. God is everywhere, and our worship should reflect this reality. In Psalm 139 we are told that wherever we go, God is intimately present with us. Buzz Aldrin celebrated that experience on the surface of the moon. Thousands of miles from earth, he took time to commune with the One who created, redeemed, and established fellowship with him. (Dennis Fisher)

INTRODUCTION:

On Holy Thursday, we celebrate three anniversaries: 1) the anniversary of the first Holy Mass; 2) the anniversary of the institution of the ministerial priesthood in order to perpetuate the Holy Mass, convey God’s forgiveness to repentant sinners, and preach the Good News of salvation; 3) the anniversary of the promulgation of Jesus’ new commandment of love: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). Today we remember how Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover into the New Testament Passover. In its origins, the Jewish Passover was, in fact, a joint celebration of two ancient thanksgiving celebrations. The descendants of Abel, who were shepherds, used to lead their sheep from the winter pastures to the summer pastures after the sacrificial offering to God of a lamb. They called this celebration the “Pass over.” The descendants of Cain, who were farmers, held a harvest festival called the Massoth in which they offered unleavened bread to God as an act of thanksgiving. The Passover feast of the Israelites (Ex 12:26-37) was a harmonious combination of these two ancient feasts of thanksgiving. It was instituted by the Lord God Who commanded all Israelites to celebrate the Feast yearly as their thanksgiving to Him for His miraculous liberation of their ancestors from Egyptian slavery, their exodus from Egypt, and their final arrival in the Promised Land.

SCRIPTURE LESSONS EXPLAINED

Introduction: The Jewish Passover was an eight-day celebration during which unleavened bread was eaten. The Passover meal began with the singing of the first part of the “Hallel” Psalms (Ps 113 & 114), followed by the first cup of wine. Then those gathered at table ate bitter herbs, sang the second part of the “Hallel” Psalms (Ps 115-116), drank the second cup of wine and listened as the oldest man in the family explained the significance of the event in answer to the question raised by a child. This was followed by the eating of a lamb (the blood of which had previously been offered to God in sacrifice), roasted in fire. The participants divided and ate the roasted lamb and unleavened Massoth bread, drank the third cup of wine and sang the major “Hallel” psalms (117-118). In later years, Jews celebrated a miniature form of the Passover every Sabbath day and called it the “Love Feast.”

The first reading (Ex 12:1-8, 11-14) explained: This reading, taken from Exodus, gives us an account of the origins of the Jewish feast of Passover when the Israelites celebrated God’s breaking the chains of their Egyptian slavery and leading them to the land He had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God established a covenant with them, making of them His own beloved people. God gave the Hebrews two instructions: prepare for the moment of liberation by a ritual meal [to be held annually in later years] and make a symbolic mark on your homes to exempt yourselves from the coming slaughter. This tradition continued in the Church as the Lord’s Supper, with the Eucharist as its focal point. The Passover feast is celebrated by the Jewish communities round the world every year; the Passover meal is a re-enactment of that hasty meal the Israelite people had to eat before their flight across the desert and then the Red Sea from Egypt — a flight from slavery to freedom and liberation. The meal is full of symbols – the lamb eaten whole, the blood of the lamb painted on the door posts, the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, eating the meal standing and dressed ready for a long journey. It is a sacred remembering of God’s great act to liberate them from slavery, and of the beginning of their long trek to the Promised Land. It was no coincidence that it was precisely during the celebration of this private Passover meal with his disciples that Jesus instituted of both the Eucharist and the Sacrament of the Ministerial Priesthood (Holy Orders).

The second reading (1 Cor 11:23-26) explained: Paul identifies a source and purpose for the communal celebration of the Lord’s Supper beyond what was passed on to him upon his conversion, namely that which he had received “from the Lord.” This suggests that, from the very beginning of the Church, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper was an unbroken tradition. Paul implies that another purpose of this celebration was to “proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes again.” Paul may simply mean that Christians, by this ritual act, remind themselves of the death and Resurrection of Jesus; he may also mean that Christians prepare themselves for the proclamation of Christ to the world at large. Addressing abuses and misunderstandings concerning the “breaking of the bread” in the Corinthian Church, Paul gives us all the warning that if we fail to embrace the spirit of love & servanthood in which the gift of the Eucharist is given to us, then “Eucharist” becomes a judgment against us.In the given reading, St. Paul recalls what Jesus did during that Passover meal, that Last Supper. Jesus transformed his Last Supper into the first Eucharistic celebration – “While they were eating Jesus took the Bread, said the blessing, broke it and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat, this is my Body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks and gave it to them saying, ‘Drink from it all of you for this is the blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins.’ ” Jesus thus instituted the Holy Eucharist as the sign and reality of God’s perpetual presence with His people as their living, heavenly food, in the form of bread and wine. This was followed by the institution of the Ministerial Priesthood with the command, “Do this in memory of me.” Here is the link between the Hebrew and the Christian Covenants. There is no mention of a lamb because there is a new lamb: Jesus himself is the Pascal Lamb. He served as both the Host and the Victim of a sacrifice and became the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world. He is the sacrificial victim of the New Covenant whose blood will adorn the wood of the cross. In this meal, the emphasis is on the unleavened bread and Body, on wine and Blood. This meal becomes now the sacrament of a new liberation, not just from physical slavery, but from every kind of slavery, especially to sin and evil, through the broken Body of Jesus and his poured-out Blood on the cross, and the basis for the celebration of the Eucharist, which is at the heart of all our Christian living.

THE GOSPEL EXPLAINED

Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover into the Eucharistic celebration. First, he washed His Apostles’ feet, then told them they should the same for each other (On Good Friday he will wash us, not with water but with his own shed Blood). The incident reminds us that our vocation is to take care of one another as Jesus always takes care of us. Finally, Jesus gave his apostles his own Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine as Food and Drink for their souls, so that, as long as they lived, they’d never be without the comfort and strength of his presence. Thus, Jesus washed their feet, fed them, and then went out to die for us all. This Gospel episode challenges us to become “other Christs” for everyone — Christ the healer, Christ the compassionate and selfless brother, and Christ the humble “washer of feet.” The Gospel Reading for today, perhaps surprisingly, does not mention the institution of the Eucharist, and St. John, in his Last Supper account, makes no mention of the bread being Jesus’ Body and the wine being his Blood. (He had no need to do so, for he had already fully developed Jesus’ Eucharistic Teaching in his Chapter 6). Rather, the Holy Spirit, through the Church, has chosen this Gospel text as the perfect complement of the other two Scripture Readings. For our reception of Jesus in the Eucharist and our loving service to others necessarily go hand-in-hand, and this set of readings makes the link clear: we cannot choose one over the other. Just as we are nourished by the body and blood of Jesus, we are also called to nourish others materially and spiritually. Just as the Body of Jesus is broken up for us, we are also called to be broken up for others. Our Christian living is a seamless robe weaving together Gospel, liturgy, daily life, and personal interaction. There is something lacking if we are devout in our regular attendance at Mass, but our lives are lived individualistically and selfishly. There is also something lacking if we are totally committed to caring for others but never gather in community to remember, give thanks to God Who does all the good that we do, by “breaking the bread together.”

Exegetical notes: Jesus’ transformation of his last Seder meal (Last Supper) into the first Eucharistic celebration is described for us in today’s Second Reading and Gospel. (John in his account of the Last Supper, makes no mention of the establishment of the Eucharist because his theology of the Eucharist is detailed in the “bread of life” discourse following the multiplication of the loaves and fish at Passover, in Chapter 6 of his Gospel.) Jesus, the Son of God, began his Passover celebration by washing the feet of his disciples (a service assigned to household servants), as a lesson in humble service, demonstrating that he “came to the world not to be served but to serve.” (Mk 10:45). He followed the ritual of the Jewish Passover meal through the second cup of wine. After serving the roasted lamb as a third step, Jesus offered his own Body and Blood as food and drink under the appearances of bread and wine. Thus, he instituted the Holy Eucharist as the sign and reality of God’s perpetual presence with His people as their living, Heavenly Food. This was followed by the institution of the ministerial priesthood with the command, “Do this in memory of me.” Jesus concluded the ceremony with a long speech incorporating his command of love: “Love one another as I have loved you”(Jn 13:34). Thus, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at a private Passover meal with the apostles (Mt 26:17-30; Lk 21:7-23). There, He served as both the Priest and the Victim of His sacrifice. As John the Baptist had previously predicted (Jn 1:29, 36), Jesus became the Lamb of God, Who would “take away the sins of the world.”

The transformation of Jesus’ Passover into the Holy Mass: The early Jewish Christians converted the Jewish “Sabbath Love Feast” of Fridays and Saturdays (the Sabbath), into the “Memorial Last Supper Meal” of Jesus on Sundays. The celebration began with the participants praising and worshipping God by singing Psalms, reading the Old Testament Messianic prophecies, and listening to the teachings of Jesus as explained by an apostle or by an ordained minister. This was followed by an offertory procession, bringing to the altar the bread and wine to be consecrated and the covered dishes (meals) brought by each family for a shared common meal after the Eucharistic celebration. Then the ordained minister said the “institution narrative” over the bread and wine, and all the participants received the consecrated Bread and Wine, the living Body and Blood, Soul, and Divinity, of the crucified and risen Jesus. This ritual finally evolved into the present-day Holy Mass in various rites, incorporating various cultural elements of worship and rituals.

LIFE MESSAGES:

1) We need to render humble service to others. 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. To wash the feet of others is to love them, especially when they don’t deserve our love, and to do good for them, even when they don’t return the favor. It is to consider others’ needs to be as important as our own. It is to forgive others from the heart, even though they don’t say, “I’m sorry.” It is to serve them, even when the task is unpleasant. It is to let others know we care, when they feel downtrodden or burdened. It is to be generous with what we have. It is to turn the other cheek, instead of retaliating when we’re treated unfairly. It is to make adjustments in our plans in order to serve others’ needs, without expecting any reward. In doing and suffering all these things in this way, we love and serve Jesus Himself, as He has loved and served us and has taught us to do. (Mt 25:31-ff).

2) We need to practice sacrificial sharing and self-giving love. Let us imitate the self-giving model of Jesus who shares with us his own Body and Blood and enriches us with his Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. It is by sharing our blessings – our talents, time, health and wealth – with others that we become true disciples of Christ and obey his new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). The Eucharist, if it is to be real, is essentially the sign of a living, loving, mutually serving community of brothers and sisters. A living, loving community celebrates and strengthens what it is through the Eucharist. It is this spirit of love and service of brothers and sisters which is to be the outstanding characteristic of the Christian disciple.

3) We need to show our unity in suffering. The Bread we eat is produced by the pounding of many grains of wheat, and the Wine we drink is the result of the crushing of many grapes. Both are thus symbols of unity through suffering. They invite us to help, console, support, and pray for others who suffer physical or mental illnesses.

4) We need to heed the warning: We need to make Holy Communion an occasion of Divine grace and blessing by receiving it worthily, rather than making it an occasion of desecration and sacrilege by receiving Jesus while we are in grave sin. That is why we pray three times before we receive Communion, “Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us,” with the final “have mercy on us” replaced by “grant us peace.” That is also the reason we pray the Centurion’s prayer, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed” (Mt 8:8). And that is why the priest, just before he receives the consecrated Host, prays, “May the Body of Christ keep me safe for eternal life,” while, just before drinking from the Chalice, he prays, “May the Blood of Christ keep me safe for eternal life.”

5) We need to become Christ-bearers and Christ-conveyers: In the older English version of the Mass, the final message was, “Go in peace to love and serve one another,” that is, to carry Jesus to our homes, places of work, schools and communities, conveying to others around us the love, mercy, forgiveness, and spirit of humble service of Christ whom we carry with us. That message has not changed, though the words are different.

REFLECTION 2

Each year, we have this beautiful custom at this Mass to reenact the Mandatum of Jesus, by washing of feet. Our celebration is beautiful and reminds us of the humility of Jesus, but it is different in a very practical way. When the priest washes the feet of his parishioners, most often, the feet are already quite clean. Due to being nervous, many of those selected make sure their feet are clean and some even go get pedicures because they do not want to be embarrassed. Our feet are not as dirty as they would be in the time of Jesus. We wear socks and shoes that protect us from the elements. In the time of Jesus, the feet were the filthiest part of the human body. Some people walked barefoot, while many had sandals. In a day of walking around, your feet would accumulate dust, dirt and maybe certain smelly substances left behind by various animals. It was these kinds of feet that our Lord and God kneeled down to wash. You can understand why Peter was so upset by it; he did not believe that the Lord should stoop so low, like a slave. Jesus was willing to get dirty to show his love to the apostles and then instructed them to go and do the same. Fr. Aloysius Schwartz was a priest who took this command to heart. Born September 18, 1930 in Washington D.C., Father Al grew up with a strong desire to be a priest. He took a very different path to priesthood because he felt called to be poor to serve the poor. At the age of 27, he was ordained a priest and made his way to Korea, where he became a priest of the Diocese of Busan. Fr. Al wanted to serve those who were devastated by the ravages of the Korean war. He forsook comfortable living and made a home of a shack in the slums of Busan. He believed he had to be poor for people to trust him. He lived a life of extreme poverty that caused him health problems, but he was committed to this style of ministry.

His heroic example caused many to listen to him and the Gospel message. He began orphanages for those who lost their parents due to the war or were abandoned due to extreme poverty. He served these children by showing them they were not forsaken by God, that they were loved and that they had something to offer the world. In his schools, they learned basic studies, the faith and some trades to prepare themselves for life outside of the orphanages. He constantly celebrated Mass for them, heard confessions and led them in prayer. He began a community of sisters, now known as the Sisters of Mary, who became spiritual mothers to the children under their care. Father Al also built hospitals, clinics and hospices to care for the homeless, elderly and the disabled. In full imitation of our Savior, Father Al washed the dirty feet of thousands who would otherwise been forgotten.

Where did Father Al find the strength to do all of this magnificent work? The reason we celebrate this Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper: the Holy Eucharist. Father Al celebrated Mass every day, often three times a day to nourish his communities and to be nourished himself. He drew strength from the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. He knew he could do nothing separated from Christ and that Eucharist would give him the strength to be faithful. He encountered many obstacles and roadblocks in his ministry, but the Eucharist was his constant consolation. Father Al was a priest took to heart the words of the Lord at the Last Supper: “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” Let us imitate our Lord just as Father Al did.
Fr. Christopher O’Connor

REFLECTION 3

How to share in the Last Supper

When Jesus says, “Do this in memory of me!” what exactly did he mean by “THIS” What had Jesus in mind through the symbolism of the broken bread and the shared wine? We need to get behind the standard Catechism answer that the Mass is a time-transcending sacrifice and think afresh about what the paschal meal meant. The Last Supper was celebrated in the context of the Jewish Passover meal and tonight’s first reading explains the meaning of this feast. In words and symbols it recalled the greatest saving act of God in the Old Testament, the exodus from Egypt, setting God’s people free from slavery. It opens us up to the idea that God enters our lives to save us and set us free from whatever oppresses us. So “opened up,” we are prepared for the good news that the definitive saving work of God is done in and by Jesus Christ. This was the supreme “hour” of Jesus, the high point of his saving work, the new exodus, leaving this world to go back to the Father. This exodus of Jesus created a new relationship between God and humanity. Sharing in this new exodus is our liberation from slavery to material things and petty self-interest to let us love generously, in the image of God. Through love-without-limit, in his utter self-giving Jesus overcame all human selfishness and draws us away from sin. This tremendous love, which the Father wants us all to share, animates the passion of Christ. It is this self-giving love that he wants to keep alive among us. With his disciples in the Last Supper he anticipated his sacrifice on the cross, giving himself under the symbols of bread and wine. Every celebration of our Eucharist is the living memorial that unites us with his saving sacrifice. By it we share in the new exodus, so that we become truly human as God wants us to be. Like St Peter, we cooperate with Jesus by letting him wash our feet, accepting his loving service. Having accepted the gift we try to imitate it in our lives. What Jesus does for us in his Passion shows us how to live. In some real sense, we must live “for” God and for others. He tells them “you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” We can regard our Eucharist as the place where the Lord washes our feet, and then sends us out to wash the feet of others, figuratively at least. Genuine Eucharist piety must lead to service of others. The same Christ who broke the bread of the Eucharist also washed the feet of his followers. We must follow his example both at the altar of the Eucharist and at the altar of life.

Servant of all

There is more to the washing of the feet than an example of humble service. This surprising gesture goes to the heart of what Jesus was about. His life of service culminated in death and resurrection. His “lifting up” on the cross is his ultimate act of loving service. This is made crystal clear by St John, who says that Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. So his washing of their feet points deeply to the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Can we accept such astonishing love from God?
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REFLECTION 4

Love and Do As You Will

Love, and do what you will. This directive comes from St. Augustine of Hippo. It is often misinterpreted. It is from a sermon Augustine gave on 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” When Augustine said, “Love and do as you will,” he meant that we need to be so fully united in love with God, that no matter what we were to do, it would be an expression of our love for God.

Jesus loved, and did what He willed. He was so united with God His Father and our Father, that His actions gave us a glimpse, only a glimpse mind you, but a glimpse of the depth of His love.

He washed the feet of His disciples. He loved His Father so closely, that He humbled Himself to serve those whom His Father had chosen to spread His Kingdom. He emptied Himself. A slave could not be forced to wash someone’s feet. That was an action so despicable that a master could not require his slave to wash his feet. But Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. It was an expression of His love for the Father. It was a message to His disciples. Jesus would empty Himself for them, for mankind. He would accept the humiliation of the cross, for that act of service would restore life to God’s loved ones.

He told his disciples to do what He had done. Mandatum! He told them to wash the feet of others as an expression of their love for God. Throughout history, the saints, canonized and not canonized, washed the feet of others as their way of loving God. Perhaps the clearest and most recent example of this was the saint of our lifetime, St. Teresa of Calcutta. Mother Teresa cared for the poorest of the poor because she loved God. She washed the sores of lepers because it was clear to her that she needed to do this to express her love for the Father. She was not concerned about whether those she cared for were Christian or Hindi or Moslem, she was excited that in each of the people she served she was loving God.

How many of us have performed rather difficult tasks out of love for God? This has been part of the life of everyone here. A good example is changing dirty diapers. You have done this or still do this not just out of love for your child, you do this out of love for God who gave you this child. Mandatum! We are called to love God with our whole heart, our whole mind and our whole soul. We are called to serve others not just as a humanitarian act, not just to better the world, but to serve the presence of God in those whom He created in His Image and Likeness.

Many people ask, as Judas asked, “What’s in it for me?” Many people will only do that which gives them gratification. Jesus was not concerned with that. He was not concerned with what was in it for Him. He was only concerned with loving His Father. “What you have seen me do, you must do.” Mandatum! If we are concerned with our love for God, then our actions will be an expression of this love.

Love and do what you will. He took bread and said, “This is my Body.” He took wine and said, “This is my blood.” And He gave it to them. The union of the Son with the Father, the Union that itself is God the Spirit, that union of love compelled Him to give Himself totally to His disciples. He instituted the Eucharist, as a new expression not just of the Passover, but an expression of the new relationship God would have with his people.“This is the blood of the New Covenant.” It is the Blood of the new relationship with God, the new life with God. The Last Supper was really the First Supper as the covenant is renewed every time, we celebrate Mass.

The Eucharist is flesh. The Eucharist is Blood. It is the Gift of Jesus on the cross, emptying Himself for all eternity, loving His Father in a way we could never have imagined. Flesh and Blood are broken and shed for us. It is Jesus’ way of loving us. It is His way of loving His Father. Love and do as you want. When we are united to the Lord in the Eucharist, when we receive communion, we are united to the Lord loving His Father and loving His people. United in love, we are compelled to give ourselves for others. The Mandatum is a mandate to love.

We celebrate this love tonight by adding two particularly beautiful symbolic actions to our liturgy. We wash the feet of 12 parishioners. This is just an action that proclaims that those who wish to establish and to serve the Kingdom of God, must empty themselves, giving themselves totally to God in service of others.

After communion we celebrate another symbolic action. We process with the Blessed Sacrament through the Church and from the Church to the chapel. The symbolism is a return to the events that followed the Last Supper. Jesus left the Upper Room and went across the Kidron Valley to Gethsemane, to the Garden of Olives. There He prayed to His Father that He might complete the act of love He knew He was called upon to do. He felt the horrors of his imminent suffering and death. He prayed that this cup of suffering be taken from Him, But He was determined to do whatever the will of the Father was calling Him to accomplish. In our own symbolic recreation of the Garden of Olives, we pray before the Lord that we have the courage to fulfill our mandatum, the particular mission the Lord calls us to complete.

So we pray tonight for the faith and the courage to love and do as we will. – Msg. Joseph Pellegrino

REFLECTION 5

THE WORD:

The central event of John’s Gospel account of the Last Supper is the mandatum – from the Latin word for “commandment,” from which comes the traditional title for this evening, Maundy Thursday. At the Passover seder, the night before he died, Jesus establishes a new Passover to celebrate God’s covenant with the new Israel. The special character of this second covenant is the mandatum of the washing of the feet: to love one another as we have been loved by Christ.

The writer of the Fourth Gospel makes no mention of the establishment of the Eucharist in his account of the Last Supper. Chapters 14, 15 and 16 recount Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples, followed by his “high priestly prayer” in chapter 17. The Johannine theology of the Eucharist is detailed in chapter 6 of John’s Gospel: the “bread of life” discourse that follows the multiplication of the loaves and fish at Passover.Tonight’s first reading recounts the origin and ritual of the feast of Passover, the Jewish celebration of God’s breaking the chains of the Israelites’ slavery in Egypt and leading them to their own land, establishing a covenant with them and making of them his own beloved people. The deep divisions in the Corinthian community have led to abuses and misunderstandings concerning the “breaking of the bread.” In addressing these problems and articulating the proper spirit in which to approach the Lord’s Supper, Paul provides us with the earliest written account of the institution of the Eucharist, the Passover of the new covenant (this evening’s second reading). If we fail to embrace the spirit of love and servanthood in which the gift of the Eucharist is given to us, then “Eucharist” becomes a judgment against us.

HOMILY POINTS:

The Eucharist, instituted this night, comes at a price all must be willing to pay: We must become what we have received; we must become, for others, Christ the healer, Christ the compassionate and selfless brother, Christ the humble “washer of feet.”

Jesus, who revealed the wonders of God in stories about mustard seeds, fishing nets and ungrateful children, on this last night of his life – as we know life – leaves his small band of disciples his most beautiful parable: As I have washed your feet like a slave, so you must wash the feet of each other and serve one another. As I have loved you without limit or condition, so you must love one another without limit or condition. As I am about to suffer and die for you, so you must suffer and, if necessary, die for one another. Tonight’s “parable” is so simple, but its lesson is so central to what being a real disciple of Christ is all about. When inspired by the love of Christ, the smallest act of service done for another takes on extraordinary dimensions.

Tonight is about reliving a memory: the memory of Jesus, the Christ, who begins on this night, for our sakes, his great “passing over” from death to life. At this table, in the cenacle of our own church, the memory of Jesus becomes a living reality. Jesus speaks to us again and again in the pages of the Gospel book, in the basin, pitcher and towel, in the Eucharistic bread and wine. The memory we relive tonight and tomorrow and the next day re-creates us, identifies us, makes us who we are as human beings who love, who care, who heal, who forgive, who lift up.
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