HOLY THURSDAY

[cappie]

Whenever we celebrate Mass, we hear the institution of the Eucharist: Take. Bless. Break. Give. Forgive. Remember. These are the actions of the Eucharist, mentioned in the synoptic gospels and testified to by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians.

Jesus takes up some basic things that are used every day, and in turn, gives us life and strength. The bread: he blesses, breaks it open, then he gives it to the people. Think about this: for the bread to be shared, it has to be broken. For Jesus to be shared, he has to be broken. He loves us; he is willing to be broken so he can share himself with us, so he would be in communion with us, and we would be in communion with each other.

Our Lord Jesus’ willingness to share himself is an act to redeem God’s people. He uses the table wine as a metaphor of his blood, tells us that he uses his own blood to cleanse us from our sins, and gives us life by instilling his blood in us.

Before our Lord is betrayed and handed over to the Roman authorities, he hands himself over to his disciples – and to us.

Jesus uses some outward and visible signs – in this case, our daily basic sustenance – to remind us, to enter into us, and to be with us. That is how he loves us. Therefore, whenever we eat this bread and drink this wine, we do so remembering Jesus our Christ. We do it in remembrance of our Lord’s love for us, his willingness to hand over his body and blood, his willingness to die on the cross. However, this remembrance is not just for us to keep within ourselves; that remembrance is to be proclaimed so that it will be remembered.

Jesus has demonstrated how he loves us. Just in case the disciples do not get it, he further demonstrates by washing his disciples’ feet. To wash their feet, he has to kneel down in front of them. He shows his willingness to do something that appears humbling. Peter has not grasped the meaning and declines the washing at first. He considers himself humble and unworthy to have his teacher wash his feet.

 In a little while, Jesus will be arrested. He will be stripped of his clothes, stripped of his dignity, and even stripped of his life. Are the dignity and life of our Lord Jesus less important than our own dignity and life? Once again, his washing of feet and suffering are breaking through this barrier to show the love that Jesus has for us. He wants us to love each other as he loves us.

Therefore, the liturgy of Maundy Thursday is to remind us again of the love our Lord has for us. The institution of the sacrament of his body and blood. The forgiveness of sins. The foot washing. The stripping of the altar. All ask us to remember Jesus’ great love for us, and our response must be to love each other.

When we receive the Eucharist, therefore, we should remember that Jesus loves us, even to the end. Before he is betrayed, before he is handed over to death, he hands himself to us. He takes up the bread and wine and blesses them to be the Holy Sacrament, his body and blood, our bread of heaven and cup of salvation. By taking this bread and cup, we become one body and one spirit. Whenever we take them, we take them knowing that Christ died for us, and we feed on him in our hearts by faith, with thanksgiving, loving each other.

With Jesus’ wondrous love for us, how can we not love Jesus back? To love him back, we, his disciples, are to follow his commandment to show the world we are his disciples. That is our discipleship.