On this first day of the Easter Triduum we join Christ during His final meal with His Apostles...
Reflections on the readings for Holy Thursday / Evening Mass of the Lord’s Passion (April 14, 2022): EX 12:1-8,11-14; PS 116:12-13,15-16,17-18; 1 COR 11:23-26; JN 13:1-15
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
As they celebrate the Passover, Jesus shares Himself with them -- and with us -- in the Eucharist.
This Mass is unique in memorializing and venerating the Last Supper that Jesus shared with the Apostles, His closest friends and disciples. In honoring their Jewish tradition of Passover, they would have thanked God for saving their ancestors from bondage, offering them the opportunity of new life and liberty. And, as the evening went on, they would have participated in something they could never have expected or understood at that time, the gift of the Holy Eucharist. “The Lord Jesus … took bread, and, after He had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is My body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). How much overwhelming, miraculous love is contained in these amazing words. The Son of God gave His beloved followers His own Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity transubstantiated from simple bread and wine. What they thought or felt we cannot fully imagine. They must have been filled with wonder yet uncertain of what this meant. Only in the following days, would they really make some sense of the enormity of what our Lord was doing. Only through the crucifixion of Christ and His rising from the dead, could they appreciate God’s incalculable love for them and all humanity. It is fitting that we use the word Eucharist from the Greek for ‘thanksgiving’ for the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus thanked our Eternal Father and we do too. We thank Christ for His sacrifice on our behalf -- not only giving His life for us, but also to us. This sacrament of love is as much ours as it was for the Apostles at that Last Supper.
And the Apostles were given another blessing, another sacrament on that night. They were ordained with the gift of the priestly ministry. They, too, could turn water and wine into the flesh and blood of our Redeemer. And they would go on to offer this gift and this ministry to others -- to us -- over these two thousand years and more. And the mystery and majesty of the Easter Triduum would continue…
