The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper - Holy Thursday
Dear brothers and sisters,
An essential aspect of the celebration of the Jewish Passover is often overlooked. It goes unnoticed perhaps because it is so obvious: Passover was a family celebration that took place in the home (cf. Exodus 12:3).
Standing around the family table, the family ate of the roasted lamb and the unleavened bread with bitter herbs (cf. Exodus 12:8). They did so not just to remember what happened for their ancestors in Egypt, but to experience for themselves the Lord’s saving power. Looked at in this way,
…that night in Egypt is an image of the power of death, of the destruction and chaos which are always rising up from the depths of the world and of man, and which threaten to destroy the ‘good’ creation and transform the world into a desert, into something uninhabitable. In this situation the home and the family offer a place of shelter.[1]
In other words, the family becomes, as it were, “the protecting wall in life, the place in which we are safe and at peace, the peace of being together, which lets us live and preserves creation.”[2]
Tonight we gather as Jesus’ family, as those incorporated into him through Baptism. The Church – not simply the physical building but the Body and Bride of Christ – have become “the new family, the new city, and it is for us what Jerusalem was, that living home which keeps away the forces of evil and is the place of peace, which preserves creation and us.”[3]
Just as the walls of the homes of the Jewish families were protected with the blood of the Passover lamb given in sacrifice, the walls of the home of the family of the Church are protected with the blood of the Paschal Lamb who gives himself in sacrifice (cf. I Corinthians 11:24-25). He offers himself as the Paschal Victim because “he loved his own in the world” – he loved you and me – “and he loved them” – he loved us – “to the end” (John 13:1).
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| Duccio, Washing of the Feet |
The Lord Jesus shows us tonight how much he loves us by washing the feet of his Apostles and instituting the Eucharistic sacrifice. The washing of feet is an outward sign of the love within his heart. That same love he poured out on the Cross when he was pierced by the lance (cf. John 19:34). This outpouring of love was foreshadowed in the Eucharistic banquet he celebrated with the family of his disciples (cf. I Corinthians 11:26). He offered himself to them and to the Father as a sacrificial victim to cleanse them of their sins (cf. I Corinthians 11:25). Through the mystery of the Eucharist he continues to offer himself to the Father - and to us - “for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
Because of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ in which I share, unworthy though I am, you will soon present to me bread and wine which I in turn will offer to the Father. Those little round pieces of bread we call hosts, a word which comes from the Latin hostia, meaning “victim.” By the power of the words of the Savior, those hosts will become his Body and the wine will become his Blood. You will join yourselves to my prayer as I offer the Body and Blood of the Paschal Victim to the Father, the same sacrifice offered on Calvary, the same sacrifice begun at the Last Supper.
You and I can each experience the love of Jesus Christ in this offering. If we open our hearts to him, his love will be poured from his heart into ours. He will defend us from the chaos of the world that threatens to destroy us; he will protect us with his blood; and he will strengthen us and nourish us to keep his commandment: “love one another” (John 13:34).
As we receive this Saving Victim who offers himself to us in the Eucharist, let us not forget to offer ourselves to him. Let us offer ourselves as victims to the Father, not in the sense of those injured by another, but in the sense of those presented as an offering. This self-offering will always be accepted and transformed into “a sacrifice of thanksgiving,” allowing us to “call upon the name of the Lord” as members of his family (Psalm 116:17). Our call will be heard. We will be kept safe from sin and receive peace in the confidence of his love until we are at last brought into the home of the Father (cf. John 14:2). Amen.
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