April 18, 2019: Holy Thursday C
April 18, 2019: Holy Thursday C
This evening we commemorate Jesus’ intimate last supper with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion. We imagine being one of the privileged disciples to participate in the Passover meal which has been celebrated by Jewish people since the time of Moses. When the disciples arrived at the Upper Room they received an unexpected request by their Teacher to take their sandals off so that he could wash their feet. Each of them must have wondered to themselves, “Washing feet is the job of a slave. I can’t let Jesus wash my feet!” Yet Jesus told them, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” As their feet were washed, they were likely unsettled to hear Jesus say that not all of them were clean. “Am I not clean,” each of them likely asked themselves. Jesus also changed the prescribed rite of the Passover meal when he took the bread and wine and said, “This is my body; this is my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.”
With these words and gestures at the Last Supper, Our Lord imparted sacred gifts of himself down the generations in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass--His Real Presence in the Eucharist and His Priesthood. It is truly miraculous that in the hands of ordinary men ordained as priests ordinary bread and wine are transformed into the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. These sacred gifts from God--Eucharist and Priesthood--also reveal the three gifts that God desires to impart on humanity, the gifts of purity, humility, and faithful love. Mother Teresa called these three, “important interior attitudes of the soul that delight the heart of God and enable him to unite himself to us.”
As we make our daily pilgrimage on earth, our hearts get divided and at times impure. We need to approach Jesus through the Eucharist and reconciliation to cleanse our minds and hearts so that we may renew our desire to be close to our Heavenly Father. Our conscious efforts to serve our neighbor humbles us and diminishes self-importance and self-centeredness. Just as Jesus humbly assumed the role of a servant in washing the disciples’ feet, we also need to humbly avail ourselves to the needs of our neighbor. The Body and Blood of Jesus we receive at every Mass is Jesus’ faithful love for each of us. Jesus gave us a commandment on the night of the Last Supper as he washed his disciples’ feet, "Do you realize what I have done for you?... If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."
With these words and gestures at the Last Supper, Our Lord imparted sacred gifts of himself down the generations in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass--His Real Presence in the Eucharist and His Priesthood. It is truly miraculous that in the hands of ordinary men ordained as priests ordinary bread and wine are transformed into the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. These sacred gifts from God--Eucharist and Priesthood--also reveal the three gifts that God desires to impart on humanity, the gifts of purity, humility, and faithful love. Mother Teresa called these three, “important interior attitudes of the soul that delight the heart of God and enable him to unite himself to us.”
As we make our daily pilgrimage on earth, our hearts get divided and at times impure. We need to approach Jesus through the Eucharist and reconciliation to cleanse our minds and hearts so that we may renew our desire to be close to our Heavenly Father. Our conscious efforts to serve our neighbor humbles us and diminishes self-importance and self-centeredness. Just as Jesus humbly assumed the role of a servant in washing the disciples’ feet, we also need to humbly avail ourselves to the needs of our neighbor. The Body and Blood of Jesus we receive at every Mass is Jesus’ faithful love for each of us. Jesus gave us a commandment on the night of the Last Supper as he washed his disciples’ feet, "Do you realize what I have done for you?... If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."
