Holy Thursday

What an important day for those of us whose “ideal is to live the mystery of the Eucharist fully and to make known its meaning!” (Project of Life, Aggregation of the Blessed Sacrament, 2)

In our first reading, the angel of death “passed over” and spared Jewish houses whose doorposts had been sprinkled with the blood of the Passover lamb. From the beginning of Christianity, Christians have seen Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection as the fulfillment and deeper meaning of these historical events in Egypt 1500 years earlier. Just as the Passover lamb saved the Jews from the angel of death in Egypt, through Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection, we are saved from three kinds of death: sin, physical death, and hell (eternal separation from God). This is the very heart of the Good News!

In our second reading, we hear that the first thing Jesus did when he instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday was to give thanks. Gratitude is an absolutely necessary requirement for any kind of real relationship with God. The Eucharist is both God’s total gift of himself to us, and our thank-offering to him – the gift of ourselves. Saint Peter Julian Eymard centered his life on this “gift of self,” by offering his entire being – heart, spirit, will, and body – as a “living Eucharist” to Christ.

Interestingly, on this evening when we commemorate Jesus’ institution of the Holy Eucharist, our gospel tells of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist carries with it insistent demands that we love and forgive one another completely. Jesus gave us a personal example – he washed and dried the feet of each of his disciples, even Judas. We must go forth and do the same, “glorifying the Lord by our lives.”

Let Us Pray:

How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.