Introduction: May you continue to be drawn into the mystery of our salvation as you recall, reflect, and re-live what Jesus has done for you, especially during the Triduum, the three most holy days of the Church year.
On Holy
Thursday we begin the liturgy that celebrates the saving events for us. Some scholars
speak of the one great liturgical rite that begins with the Evening Liturgy of the
Lord’s Supper and ends with the Easter Vigil. This is the Triduum (“Three days”).
During the Triduum, we “journey” with our Master-Teacher as He celebrates His Last
Supper with the Passover rites. We “follow” Him as He proceeds into the Garden of
Gethsemane. We are witnesses to His “trial” and condemnation. We are able to “watch”
as He carries His cross through the streets of Jerusalem, up to the hill of Golgotha
(Calvary – Skull Place) where we “experience” His crucifixion, death, and burial.
We are given the opportunity to reflect on how all of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old
Testament) have announced GOD’s plan of salvation that culminates in Jesus’ resurrection.
The Triduum is the re-living of the mystery of salvation. Its climax will be the
Easter Vigil when we recall our being baptized into this mystery and receiving new
life with the Risen Lord. Let us find the time to reflect and pray during the Triduum.
May you be able to make present this moment of our salvation.
In
the Catholic and other mainline Christian traditions, tonight begins what is
known as the Triduum (a word which means “three days”). This is the most solemn
and important three days of the ecclesiastical year. These three days celebrate
in solemn and dramatic fashion the Hour of Glory of Jesus – His giving of
Himself, His agony, suffering, and death — and His resurrection. The Triduum
begins with tonight’s celebration of the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The
readings speak of the blood covenants that GOD established with the Chosen
People. They also speak of signs of GOD’s love and total care for the Chosen
People.
First Reading: Exodus
12:1-8,11-14
The Passover is a day of festival for all generations, forever
Commentary: The festival on which Passover was
based was originally a nomad festival at the move from winter pastures in the
plains to summer pastures in the hills. A fine lamb was offered to placate the
gods so that they would not harm the rest of the flock; it was eaten at the
first full moon of spring, after the spring equinox (March 21st). Blood on the doorposts
of the tents was a sign that the offering had been made. Water is scarce for
nomads, so the lamb was roasted, not boiled – cooking pots were packed,
anyway! This primitive festival was taken up by the Hebrews to commemorate the
great move from Egypt through the desert, and – most of all – the
covenant made in the desert of Sinai, when God made Israel his own people. It
was celebrated each year, and the blood of the lamb was sprinkled over the
altar (representing God) and the people signified their union in the covenant.
Responsorial Psalm 116:12-13,15-18
The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
Psalm 116
questions how he can give GOD thanksgiving. He decides to take up the cup of
salvation and give thanks to GOD. The blessing cup used during Passover is
filled with wine at four key points in the Seder (Passover meal). As the cup is
filled the fourth and last time, a special berakah (blessing) prayer is said.
This is the cup of blessing during which the Hallel (“Praise”) Psalms are
prayed/sung. Psalm 116 continues by praising GOD and saying that the death of
one of GOD’s faithful ones is precious in GOD’s eyes. The praise offered by the
Servant of GOD is His faithful service. The response for the psalm bridges the
readings from Hebrew Scripture (Old Testament) to Christian Scripture (New
Testament): “Our blessing cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.”
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians
11:23-26
Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the death
of the Lord
Commentary: Paul gives us the story of this meal,
which he himself had received from what was already traditional, hardly a dozen
years after the Last Supper, well before the Gospels were written.
Jesus himself
was the lamb who was to be sacrificed, and his new covenant was sealed, not in
blood sprinkled, but in his own blood consumed. It was a ‘memorial’, that is,
an effective re-enactment, actually renewing the act of dedication and union.
In today’s reading Paul is rebuking the Corinthians for re-enacting this
significant moment thoughtlessly, as though it was an ordinary festal meal;
they had lost the intention and the seriousness. They were no longer proclaiming
the death of Jesus, no longer engaging themselves in the new covenant. It is a
dangerous thing to commit oneself to a new covenant sealed by death and leading
to new life
Gospel: John 13:1-15
Now he showed how perfect his love was
Commentary: The
feast of the Passover was taken up by Jesus as the occasion for him to make his
own new covenant, fulfilling the promises made by the prophets of a new
covenant to replace the old covenant so definitively broken at the time of the
Babylonian Exile. Jesus himself was the lamb who was to be sacrificed, and his
new covenant was sealed, not in blood sprinkled but in his own blood consumed.
It was a ‘memorial’, that is, an effective re-enactment, actually renewing the
act of dedication and union.
Jesus’s extraordinary
gesture recorded in the Gospel of John shows us the full meaning of what he was
doing. The narrative stresses that Jesus knew what was to come; he was showing
his disciples the meaning of the events. By the act of rising from the table
and performing the demeaning act of stripping down and washing the feet of his
followers, his guests, he was showing the meaning of the dire events to
come – Peter’s horror says it all, but there was far worse to come. It was
a pre-enactment of his great act of serving his community, the new family which
he was binding to himself by this new covenant, the foundational act of service
in the Church
Reflection: Does
your love waver when you encounter bitter disappointments and injury from
others? As Jesus' hour of humiliation draws near, he reveals to his disciples
the supreme humility which shaped the love he had for them. He stoops to
perform a menial task reserved for servants - the washing of smelly, dirty
feet. In stooping to serve his disciples Jesus knew he would be betrayed by one
of them and that the rest would abandon him through fear and disloyalty. Such
knowledge could have easily led to bitterness or hatred. Jesus met the injury
of betrayal and disloyalty with the greatest humility and supreme love.
Let the love of Christ rule in your heart and actions: Jesus
loved his disciples to the very end, even when they failed him and forsook him.
The Lord loves each of us freely and unconditionally. His love has the power to set
us free to love and serve others with Christ-like compassion and humility. Paul
the Apostle tells us that Christ's gift of love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (Romans 5:5 and 8:35-39). Does the
love of Christ rule in your heart, thoughts, intentions, and actions?
The love of Christ conquers all and never fails: Saint
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) in his sermon for Holy Thursday wrote: "He
had the power of laying down his life; we by contrast cannot choose the length
of our lives, and we die even if it is against our will. He, by dying,
destroyed death in himself; we are freed from death only in his death. His body
did not see corruption; our body will see corruption and only then be clothed
through him in incorruption at the end of the world. He needed no help from us
in saving us; without him we can do nothing. He gave himself to us as the vine
to the branches; apart from him we cannot have life.
It is no
coincidence that Jesus celebrates this feast of Passover with His followers at
His last supper before his death. St. Paul reminds us of what Jesus did on the
night He was handed over. While saying the berakah (prayer of praise and
blessing) over the unleavened bread, Jesus gives new meaning to the bread. It
is His Body that will be broken and given for all of His followers. They are to
continue to break the bread and recognize the presence of the Lord Jesus when
they break the bread in His memory (zikaron [Hebrew], anamnesis
[Greek]). He will be there, feeding them with His very Body whenever they break
the bread. St. Paul continues to speak of what Jesus did at the Seder meal of
the Last Supper. At the end of the meal, as the fourth cup of wine is passed,
Jesus says the berakah over the cup. He again gives new meaning to the
cup. It is the cup of His Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant
relationship. Jesus is the unblemished Lamb of GOD, Whose Blood will be poured
out to set the Chosen People free from slavery to sin and give them new life
through the death of the Lamb. It is by sharing in the Blood of the Lamb of GOD
that the reality of this covenant relationship is manifested.
Within the
Catholic tradition, tonight’s celebration of the Lord’s Supper normally ends
with a procession with Eucharistic Bread (the Body of Christ) from the church
to an altar of repose. We are invited to journey along with Jesus as He leaves
the Upper Room and goes out into the Garden of Olives to the place called
Gethsemane (“Olive Press”). Here Jesus asks His followers to pray with Him. He
particularly asks His closest three (Peter, James, and John) to stay awake and
pray. He goes forward and asks His Abba-Father if there is any way that He need
not go through what is about to happen and that He be spared. Yet, Jesus
submits to the will of His Abba and is willing to undergo whatever is necessary
for our salvation. He returns to find His disciples sleeping. The question
asked of the disciples can be asked of us: “Can we not spend at least a little
time in prayer with our Master-Teacher-Lord?”
Finally, even
if brothers die for brothers, yet no martyr by shedding his blood brings
forgiveness for the sins of his brothers, as Christ brought forgiveness to us.
In this he gave us, not an example to imitate but a reason for rejoicing.
Inasmuch, then, as they shed their blood for their brothers, the martyrs
provided "the same kind of meal" as they had received at the Lord's
table. Let us then love one another as Christ also loved us and gave himself up
for us."
Lord Jesus,
your love conquers all and never fails. Help me to love others freely, with
heart-felt compassion, kindness and goodness. Where there is injury, may I sow
peace rather than strife.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Christ chose to be a servant who offered himself for
us, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Even
though the man Christ Jesus, in the form of God together with the Father with
whom He is one God, accepts our sacrifice, nonetheless He has chosen in the
form of a servant to be the sacrifice rather than accept it. Therefore, He is
the priest Himself Who presents the offering, and He Himself is what is
offered." (excerpt from City of God, 10,20).
DYING FOR YOU TO DRINK
“This cup is
the new covenant in My blood.” —1 Corinthians 11:25. On Holy Thursday night, in
the garden of Gethsemane, hundreds of soldiers fell to the ground when Jesus of
Nazareth said, “I AM” (Jn 18:6). Yet this all-powerful, divine God-Man sweated
blood on that night and asked the Father to let this cup pass Him by (Lk
22:42). He embraced the cup that would not “pass Him by,” and He left His
apostles the cup of blessing (Mt 26:27).
His cup
included washing the feet of His apostles.
He used jars of water that were for ceremonial washing. As He changed water into wine at Cana (Jn
2:6), Jesus even gave His apostles, and us, “new wine” that far surpassed the
choicest wine at Cana (Lk 22:18-20).
His cup
included letting Himself be nailed to the cross for those who betrayed and
denied Him. He prayed for their unity, strength and protection. He Who did not
know sin, became sin for us, who were indifferent to Him (2 Cor 5:21). Mocked
and scorned, Jesus died between two criminals. His own received Him not (Jn
1:11), despite centuries of prophecy given for the purpose of preparing their
hearts.
“How deep are
the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God” (Rm 11:33). How rich in
mercy He is (Eph 2:4). He gave His Body for us in the Eucharist. Can you drink
the same cup for Him Who gave His Body for you? Receive Jesus as He greatly
desires to be received (Lk 22:15) — in this gift of His Body and Blood in the
Holy Eucharist.
Prayer: Jesus, You thirst for me to drink Your
cup. I shall make a return to You by committing to receive You as You desire.
“Every time, then, you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the
death of the Lord until He comes!” —1 Cor 11:26. Praise the Eucharistic Jesus,
Who humbles Himself for us!
The personal question for today: What does it mean to me that Jesus invites me to eat
at His table and to be fed by and with Him? What can I do to fulfill my call to
be a servant to others as my master teacher has demonstrated through His acts
of giving Himself to others? How can I spend more time in prayer with my
Master?