Deacon Tom Anthony

Holy Thursday – Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Lectionary: 39

Reading 1 Ex 12:1-8, 11-14

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
“This month shall stand at the head of your calendar;
you shall reckon it the first month of the year.
Tell the whole community of Israel:
On the tenth of this month every one of your families
must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.
If a family is too small for a whole lamb,
it shall join the nearest household in procuring one
and shall share in the lamb
in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it.
The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish.
You may take it from either the sheep or the goats.
You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month,
and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present,
it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.
They shall take some of its blood
and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel
of every house in which they partake of the lamb.
That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
“This is how you are to eat it:
with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand,
you shall eat like those who are in flight.
It is the Passover of the LORD.
For on this same night I will go through Egypt,
striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast,
and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD!
But the blood will mark the houses where you are.
Seeing the blood, I will pass over you;
thus, when I strike the land of Egypt,
no destructive blow will come upon you.
“This day shall be a memorial feast for you,
which all your generations shall celebrate
with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18.

R. (cf. 1 Cor 10:16)  Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
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.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
 in the presence of all his people.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

Reading 2 1 Cor 11:23-26

Brothers and sisters:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
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.

Verse Before the GospelJn 13:34

I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:
love one another as I have loved you.

Gospel Jn 13:1-15

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come
to pass from this world to the Father.
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.
The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.
So, during supper,
fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power
and that he had come from God and was returning to God,
he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
Simon Peter said to him,
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
Jesus said to him,
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
     for he is clean all over;
so you are clean, but not all.”
For he knew who would betray him;
for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’  and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper brings us into the Triduum which is Latin for Three Days. These three days are also known as The Easter Tide. Everything that is done, everything that is celebrated during these three days brings us to the Highest Celebration on the Christian Calendar: The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This Thursday Evening three things are celebrated: The Institution of the Priesthood, The Institution of the Eucharist, and a mandate on how we as Christians are to treat one another. This marks the last time Jesus would be with his disciples before his crucifixion. The Gospel According to John brings forth an intimate exchange and an emotional conversation where Jesus prepares them for what is coming next. This has been referred to as The Last Supper Discourses. Reading this in its entirety is a very spiritual and powerful way to prepare for the Easter Joy. What Jesus and His disciples were feeling at that moment is what Jesus feels for us and how we should feel about Him. Just as The Trinity is beyond time and space so are these events. There is a spiritual aspect about them that invites us into the Mystical Church where we become participators in what is happening and not only those who read of them afterwards.

 Just as Jesus’ disciples needed reassurance and instruction, we too need that same reassurance and instruction. The reassurance is to tell us that the spiritual rollercoaster that we are entering into will strengthen our relationship with Him. As Christians we will be required to suffer in our lives because Jesus suffered for us. When we suffer we experience what He experienced for us because He loves us. As an extension, all suffering becomes an expression of love.  Things that are experienced together in relationship become a shared experience that strengthens the bond between all those involved. With our relationship with Jesus Christ being our most important relationship means that whatever occurs in that relationship will have a deeper impact on us. While meditating on this evening and celebrating this evening we are invited to be open to the spiritual experiences that it brings.

During this last meal together Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. It is a lesson that Jesus taught His disciples and all of us in perpetuity. We are servants to all and are  slaves to each other. Social status does not matter. Social importance does not matter. Everyone is equal in the Eyes of God and all must treat all with love and compassion just as Jesus Christ treated all of us through His actions and sacrifice. No one is less important and less deserving. No one is deserving of what was given to us by Jesus Christ. We all come forward to Jesus to receive what He has to offer. When living in Christian community and when interaction with anyone and everyone in God’s creation each person MUST be treated the same: We are their servants and are here to serve.

During this wonderful night Jesus also gave us the Eucharist: His Body and His Blood to be consumed physically, mentally, and spiritually as the central aspect of our faith until He comes again in His glory. Jesus is the Eucharist and the Eucharist is Jesus Christ. He said as much and there is no doubt how the Eucharist should be approached and celebrated: exactly how Jesus Christ told us to and how Christians have celebrated it from that moment until present day without change and without modification. Taking the Eucharist and taking the instructions given to us by Jesus Christ during this night we are then encouraged to recommit ourselves to our faith and go forward with what we read and celebrate as a central focus and tools to pray and deepen our spirituality with.

Tonight is not a night that ends but brings us forward into the Easter Tide and towards a glorification of our God: Jesus Christ.

Deacon Tom