Holy Thursday

Unlike most other days throughout the year, the readings Holy Mother Church gives us for Holy Thursday are always the same.  And so, I suppose if you were asked to choose the Gospel reading for today - a day on which we remember the Last Supper - many of us would probably choose one of the passages that depicts Jesus “instituting the Eucharist” - sitting at table, blessing bread and wine, breaking the bread, and sharing this sacred meal with his disciples.  Yet, what we hear every year is St. John’s account of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet.  Why doesn’t the Church simply include a more expanded passage from John, one including Jesus blessing bread and wine and sharing them with his friends?

Well, the answer is simple - there is no such passage.   

You see, St. John’s Gospel doesn’t mention the Last Supper as the other three evangelists do. 

And, Matthew, Mark, and Luke say nothing about the foot washing. 

And so, since the Church wants to include both, it chooses a passage from St. Paul in which he mentions the words and actions of Jesus at the Last Supper, and follows it with the passage from St. John recounting the foot-washing ritual.

Now, it may seem that the easiest solution would be to do the re-enactment of the foot-washing on a different Sunday during the year, and simply focus on Eucharist today.  Yet, we don’t do that.  Why?  There is a very good reason why.  It seems pretty clear that Jesus didn’t just happen to do these two things at the same meal.  He chose to do them together; he chose to forever link one with the other. 

And that should tell us something.

I think there is a tendency for us as Catholics to see this sacred meal as simply a holy, private moment between each of us and our God.  Sure, we do it each Sunday all together as a faith community - that is of course, true - but for many of us that’s secondary. 

For most of us, unfortunately, Eucharist is a time when I come to experience true “communion” with my God, a time for me to experience God’s love, God’s mercy, and God’s comfort.  Receiving the Lord’s Body and Blood is a time for me to spiritually draw closer to my God and to know a peace that only He can give.

And those are all good things, don’t get me wrong – as are all the things that I experience when I share in this sacred meal.  And I thank God for the opportunity to be touched by Him in this way, to be nourished by His Body and Blood, to be fed a food unlike any other. 

However, that is just one aspect of what this holy meal is all about.  You see, Eucharist is not just a precious gift for you and for me as individuals.  It’s a gift for the whole world - the gift of Jesus’ very self poured out for a world in desperate need of healing, and mercy, and love.

As Catholics we believe some pretty incredible things about what happens within the walls of our church, on the altar, at the sacred meal.  Believing that our God comes to us in this way is both powerful and profound.  And it should be comforting to know that our God wants us to be close to Him - for us to dwell in Him, and He in us.  However, this sacred meal, this holy food, is also meant to transform us.

That’s right, transform us – transform us into more than we were yesterday.  That’s the power of this sacrament.  It can change us for the better, help us to be more and more like the people God created us to be.   But make no mistake about it - this transformation is meant to not just change who we are, but how we live.  In other words, what we believe happens at the altar will hopefully bear fruit in all that we do, in the way we treat others, in the choices we make each and every day.

This sacred meal, this food for the journey, is meant to empower us and inspire us to live more as Jesus lived - to be better foot-washers, more faithful foot-washers, more loving foot-washers.  Our belief in the Eucharist is not something we simply contemplate.  It’s something we allow to change us - so that we may more perfectly conform our lives to the life of the One we follow, the One in whom we put our trust, the One we call Lord.

Believing in Jesus means something.  Following Jesus means something.  Believing in what takes place on the altar means something. 

They mean that the Eucharist we receive, and serving the needs of others are inextricably linked together.  We really can’t claim belief in one and fail to do the other.  That’s probably why Jesus chose to do them at the same time.  They’re not disconnected.  They’re intimately linked, an expression of what faith is really all about.

At our Holy Thursday Mass, our choir shared the song 'Remembrance' by Matt Maher.  Its words speak to us about what it is we celebrate at every Mass:

"Oh, how could it be,
That my God would welcome me into this mystery,
Say take this bread, take this wine,
Now the simple made divine, for any to receive.

By Your mercy, we come to Your table;

By Your grace, You are making us faithful.

Lord, we remember You:
And remembrance leads us to worship,
And as we worship You,
Our worship leads to communion.
We respond to Your invitation, we remember You."

I think that is such a beautiful description of what happens every time we gather for Mass. 

We gather because the Lord invites us to come and remember him (Do this in remembrance of me.). 

And as we remember him, we are led to worship him (My Lord and my God.). 

And in worshiping him, we are led to communion – communion with God and communion with one another. 

And in remembering those in the world around us, we cannot help but respond to God’s invitation to assist those most in need, for in so doing we become the very Body of Christ that we receive.

And thus we do not only remember Jesus washing the feet of his disciples on this day, as if we’re just recalling something from the past.  Rather, we strive to remember what we do this night every time we come forward to receive the Lord’s Body and Blood.  May this holy meal continually challenge us and inspire us to go forth and do the work of Jesus - as servants of all. 

Jesus laid down his life for others.  May we have the courage and the faith to do the same, helping to build the Father’s Kingdom of true and lasting peace.