Holy Day:     HOLY THURSDAY - MASS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER   
Date:         April 12, 2001
Year:         C
The readings: [Ex. 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Cor. 11:23-6; Jn. 13:1-15]
The message:  Do this in remembrance of Me.
Prepared by:  CATHOLIC DOORS MINISTRY
Total words:  1518

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Welcome my brothers and sisters in Jesus to today's celebration of Holy Thursday. This holy day has been set in the Liturgical Calendar to commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist. During the history of the Holy Catholic Church, this special Feast has also been associated with the baptism of new converts, the reconciliation of penitents, the consecration of the holy oils and the washing of the feet. Because of this, although this Feast has received many different names in the past, they all represent Holy Thursday.

Holy Thursday reminds us of the night on which our Lord Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples. What went through the mind of the disciples on that night, we will never know. We can only guess. What we do know is that Jesus knew that His ministry on earth was ending and that His hour had come to depart from the world in order to return to His heavenly Father. For some time, Jesus had been preparing His disciples for His departure. He provided them with knowledge that He was about to be betrayed and crucified. But the disciples failed to understand what Jesus was telling them.

We cannot blame the disciples for having been blind to the truth. After all, they were human beings just like all of us. Most likely, they were more impressed with the miracles of Jesus, His infinite wisdom as a Teacher and Rabbi, and His endless knowledge of the mysteries of God. While some of the disciples affirmed that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah, their actions that followed the arrest of the Lord clearly tells us that they were very weak in human nature at that time.

During today's First Reading from the Book of Exodus, we heard God the Father speaking to Moses and His people of the day of the New Covenant of grace that was about to come.

During that reading, God the Father provided a number of pictures that echoed things to come. In the institution of the Passover to commemorate the day when God's chosen people were freed from slavery, the heavenly Father indicated that this month would mark the beginning of months for the people. Today, that picture echoes the new converts in the Holy Catholic Church who are receiving the Sacrament of Baptism during the Easter season. It echoes that this month marks for them the beginning of the liturgical year that is to follow.

The Lord God commanded that a lamb without blemish be chosen. This echoed the Lord Jesus who is the Lamb of God without defect or blemish. [Jn. 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:19] "For our sake God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." [2 Cor. 5:21]

God the Father commanded Moses and His people to eat the lamb. Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Bread of Life. [Jn. 6:35, 48-50] By eating the Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist, we have life in us.

To clarify this, it is necessary to understand the progressive order of the Church Sacraments. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we receive a number of gifts from God. We receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And we receive our new creation of the godly seed, our new human spirit through which our soul manifests itself eternally after physical death. And finally, through Baptism, we are made righteous in the eyes of God, receiving forgiveness for the "sins previously committed." [Rom. 3:25]

When we sin after our Baptism, we seek out the Sacrament of Confession to reinstate the righteousness of the Lord God that was previously given to us through Christ.

Now being in a new state of grace through the Sacrament of Confession, so we may have the life of Christ in us so we may receive our salvation, we need the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the Bread of Life. Without the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, there is no spiritual life in us.

During the First Reading, God the Father also spoke of the firstborn. Again, this echoed a picture of Jesus. Jesus was "the firstborn within a large family." [Rom. 8:29] He was the first fruits of those who have died. [1 Cor 15:20] He was the firstfruit of all creation. [Col. 1:15] He was the first to resurrect and to enter the Kingdom of God as the King of kings.

The blood of the lamb is a picture of the Blood of Christ. Through the Blood of Christ, we are justified. [Rom. 5:9] To pass over those where the blood of the lamb is seen on the frame of the doors echoes that there will be no judgment against those who are made righteous by the Lamb of God through the Sacrament of Confession. Jesus said, "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life." [Jn. 5:24] (C.C.C. # 1470) To hear the word of Jesus means to live one's faith through words and actions that are worthy of being called a saint.

Finally, in the days of Moses, God commanded that the Feast of the Passover be remembered. It should be celebrated as a festival to the Lord, throughout every generations as a perpetual ordinance. This Divine command was a picture of the feast of Holy Thursday that is being celebrated today. It was a picture of the Last Supper that is being celebrated daily during the Holy Mass throughout the world in remembrance of the words of the Lord Jesus and the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the Bread of Life.

During today's Second Reading, St. Paul related to us what he had personally received from the Lord Jesus. Jesus commands us to celebrate the Holy Mass and to receive the Holy Eucharist in remembrance of Him. St. Paul tells us that this is the New Covenant of grace that has been bestowed upon the world through the Blood of Jesus. Through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, we are to proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

So Sacred is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist that in the next three verses that followed today's Second Reading, St. Paul gave us a guideline as to how we should receive this Sacrament. "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves." [1 Cor. 11:27-6]

To avoid the judgment of the Lord, we should receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in a state of grace, (pause) after having received the Sacrament of Confession.

As today's Gospel tells us, during the Last Supper, Jesus did something very unusual. He got on His knees and washed the feet of His disciples. What tremendous humility we see in this act of Divine love. The greatest Teacher of all times, our Lord God Himself, humbled Himself as a servant of His children. Loving His children of the world until the end, He wanted to do something special by which they would remember Him. He wanted to leave them an example by which they could live.

When Peter protested when Jesus wanted to wash his feet, Jesus told him, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." And when Jesus had finished washing the feet of the disciples, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord - and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.'"

My brothers and sisters in Christ, today's readings have two spiritual messages for us that cannot be separated. First of all, the feast of Holy Thursday is in remembrance of the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. From this Sacrament, the Bread of Life, we receive the life of Christ that leads us to our salvation.

The second message is that we are to receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in a worthy manner. To be pleasing in the eyes of God, we must humble ourselves as Jesus humbled Himself. In our living faith in Christ, we must become servants. Through our humble actions, we must be in state of grace and worthiness to partake in the Holy Mass. Then we can receive the Lord Jesus in our hearts in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

During the remaining of the day, let us reflect upon these messages so we may continue to be sanctified in Christ.

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The readings...

[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]

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First Reading...

"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbour in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

This is how you shall eat it; your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments; I am the Lord.

The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance of you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance." [Exo. 12:1-8]

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Second Reading...

"Beloved: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'

In the same way he took the cup also, 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 this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." [1 Cor. 11:23-6]

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Gospel Reading...

"Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The devil had already put in into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'Lord, are you going to wash my feet?' Jesus answered, 'You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.' Peter said to him, 'You will never wash my feet.' Jesus answered, 'Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.' Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!' Jesus said to him, 'One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.' For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, 'Not all of you are clean.'

After he had washed their feet, put on his robe, and returned to the table, Jesus said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and lord - and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.'" [Jn. 13:1-15]

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