Holy Thursday - Mass of the Lord's Supper

It’s all about associations. The reason we’re here tonight is because of the full moon over last weekend. Easter and the Jewish Passover fall on the first Sabbath after the first full moon of spring. The Jewish Passover began last Saturday at sundown, April 12, and continues to Easter Sunday, April 20. The associations are essential to understand what we’re doing here.

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Entrance Antiphon: Gal 6:14 – “We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered.”

First Reading: Ex 12:1-8, 11-14 – “The law regarding the Passover meal.”

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18 – “Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.”

Second Reading: 1 Cor 11:23-26 – “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord.”

Verse before the Gospel: Jn 13:34 – “I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you.”

Gospel: Jn 13:1-15 – “Jesus loved them to the end.”

Communion Antiphon: 1 Cor 11:24-25 – “This is the Body that will be given up for you; this is the Chalice of the new covenant in My Blood, says the Lord; do this whenever you receive it, in memory of Me.”

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Associations deepen our experience of an event. A certain song can trigger memories of our first date or the day we lost a loved one. A full moon might conjure up the joy of a camping trip with good friends. A hymn used at a funeral may bring tears even on a joyful day. Saint John’s Gospel is making just such a link when he leads us to associate the Last Supper with the humble service of Jesus as He prepares for the “hour” He will lay down His life for us.

Holy Thursday is associated with Good Friday. Like Saturday night Mass … the vigil Mass for Sunday … today’s Mass takes place on the vigil of Good Friday. The Hebrew Passover is linked with God’s salvation of the people. So too, is our Passover tied to the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Mass we so frequently celebrate is called a “sacrifice.” The Sacrifice of the Mass is about Jesus’ self-gift, sacrificing Himself on a cross so that His death would bring eternal life.

Eucharist is associated with the washing of feet. Saint John had already referred to the “Bread of Life” in Chapter 6 of his Gospel. Now the evangelist associates Jesus’ humble action to the Passover about to take place on the cross. Instead of “take and eat,” we hear “take and start washing.” What would be as humbling as washing feet in our own day? Few want the task of being caregivers to the mentally challenged, of changing the diaper of one who is not a cute and innocent baby, or of stopping to ask a person living on the street if he or she needs any help. Christ’s bending down to wash feet signals His example of being a servant who takes the lowest place. He reveals a humble God who serves. Eucharist is intimately tied to bending down …  not just to a tabernacle, but toward the men and women who need the Real Presence of a compassionate Lord.

The Mass is associated with our salvation in Passover. There are two Masses that bookend the Triduum. One is the Mass of the Lord’s Supper … the Passover Vigil to Good Friday and the other is the Easter Vigil to Resurrection Sunday. How often do we miss the necessary associations when we go to Mass or attend Mass? God’s Son lays down His life so that people of the Covenant may be set free to follow in our Savior’s footsteps and His foot washing.

Ask yourselves this … Have we lost our associations with the real Easter? Easter bunnies are nice and bring great eggs, but do children know about real eggs that bear a living and breathing creature into the world? Easter Sunday needs the gestation of a Holy Thursday and a Good Friday. We need Christ’s compassion to help us break out of our own self-focused shells so we can breathe an air that’s freed for service. Easter candy is sweet, but how sweet to our taste is the Lord’s own Body broken for us? Easter can lose its flavor and seem not worth savoring, unless we, too, can find the secret of an eternal love sweet enough to die for.

We are challenged to contemplate the meaning of this Easter mystery and gets the connection … or in other words … to make the association “[We seek] the face of a God who is emptied, a God who has assumed the condition of servant, humble and obedient until death … If we do not lower ourselves, we will not see His face. We will not see anything of His fullness if we do not accept that God has emptied Himself” (Fifth National Ecclesial Congress, Florence, Italy, 11/10/2015).

We can only appreciate the breaking of the bread and sharing of this chalice when we can connect the dots. “Our blessing cup is a communion in the Blood of Christ.” Christ’s Body and Blood are “broken and poured out” for the many. Ask yourselves this: If all we do is eat and drink it, where does all that love go?