Maundy Thursday: The Mass of the Lord’s Supper
9th April 2020
Albert Einstein, one of the world’s great minds,
didn’t wake up one day and say to himself I think I’ll be intelligent and
create numerous mathematical theories and solutions today. No, Einstein had to
learn, he had to be taught, he had to be formed. All of us hopefully want to
know Jesus not just superficially but intimately and deeply, we want to be his
disciples. Before we can even attempt to do this we have to know what it means
then to be a follower and therefore we have to learn and be formed by Jesus our
teacher. This Holy Thursday we enter the Lord’s school of love (all be it
spiritually this year!) and our classroom will be the upper room where Jesus
will celebrate the Passover with the Twelve, and teach us his students the
lessons of true discipleship.
The first lesson is washing the disciples feet. Our
Lord, fully divine and fully human, humbly sank to his knees and washed the
muck and the dirt and the filth from his follower’s feet. To put it another
way, God in flesh and blood, himself no less, washed the feet of a fishermen
called Peter, he washed the feet of a tax collector called Matthew, he washed
the feet of a traitor called Judas! He –the Word made Flesh – washed his
disciples feet to teach us about real love. Love that means humbling ourselves
before others and serving them no matter what! Even if they are a friend or
enemy, a brother/sister or a traitor, a believer or a doubter. To be a disciple
and to know Jesus is to act in this way.
I find this hard. My ego and pride find this hard,
yet if Our Lord gives us this example, then to be a good disciple means to
embrace this way of love. Normally at the evening Mass I would remove my
priestly vestment, the chasuble, and get on my hands and knees before twelve
people sitting on the sanctuary and wash their feet in imitation of Jesus
Christ the Servant-King. It is not some empty ritual but a prayer that draws us
into the beauty of Jesus’ unconditional love for us all and reminds us how we
are to act in our relationships with others.
Part
Two: The Priesthood
The second part of the lesson that Jesus gives us,
still connected with the washing of feet, is his love through the Priesthood.
St Peter, when he finally succumbs to letting the Lord wash his feet says: ‘…not
only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ (Jn 13:9) St Peter as usual has missed the point. The
washing of the feet is not about being physically clean it is about being clean
in our hearts, that intimate place where God dwells within us. Jesus washes and
cleanses us through the gift of the Sacraments of Baptism and Confession. He
has chosen certain men to be his priests in order to administer these precious
life giving graces. It is through Our Lord’s priests that he cleans us his
people in mercy; washes us in forgiveness and he purifies us in new life. The
priesthood is that sacred vocation that allows Jesus’ words and actions to
become truly present for the salvation of those who desire God and want to
journey towards Him. Priests come in many shapes and sizes! Varying
personalities carrying both strengths and weakness’, however, no saint, not
even the most holiest and mystical saint, ever reached Heaven or truly knew
Jesus Christ without encountering a priest and the Sacraments.
Part
Three: The Eucharist
The final part of our master’s lesson on
discipleship is found in the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ. When a
couple come before the altar to marry each other they promise to always love
one another in the good times and the bad They promise to be faithful to one
another in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer. They promise to
serve and support one another till death do they part. In the Eucharist, which
Jesus instituted on this night in the upper room, he makes the same vow of love
to us, he uses the same intimate language of marriage. He becomes the
bridegroom giving everything, even his own body, for us the church his
bride.
‘Now
as they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and when he had said the blessing
he broke it and gave it to the disciples. ‘Take it and eat;’ he said ‘this is
my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to
them. ‘Drink all of you from this,’ he said ‘for this is my blood, the blood of
the covenant, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of
sins...’’
(Matt
26: 26-28)
It is through the Eucharist that we are able to
have the opportunity to be in such close loving union with Our Lord. He allows
us to have Holy Communion to strengthen us on our journey through life, to
remind us he is ever present and faithful, in good times and bad, in sickness
and in health, for richer for poorer till death do we part. He gives us his
very Body and Blood to show us that he loves us so much he keeps nothing from
us – not even his actual real living presence in the Holy Eucharist.
Our teacher concludes his lesson on being a
disciple of love with these words:
‘I
have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’
(Jn
13:15)
In the Washing of Feet, in the Sacraments, in the
Priesthood and in the Eucharist Jesus reveals that he is Love itself and shows
us the path we must walk if we are to call ourselves disciples. A real love
that is humble. A real love that serves others no matter whether they are
friend or foe. A love that is merciful and does not judge. A love that is
always faithful. The lesson of Jesus our teacher is concluded. What have you
learnt from it?
God Bless you and pray for me and all my brother
priests on this feast of the Sacred Priesthood.
Keep praying for the containment and eradication of
this awful virus so that we can all be reunited at the Altar of the Lord and
receive his Sacraments again to help us in our lives of faith.
Fr. O’Brien