Eucharist                                   +        HOLY  THURSDAY       +

Dear Brothers and Sisters,  At the beginning of Lent we are reminded in one way or another – that this may be our last Lent!And so it was this year for our dear Brother

Giuseppe. But the same may be said for every liturgical season, even Holy Week!

Our own hour – is somewhere in the near or distant future.

    Today, Holy Thursday, we celebrate Our Lord’s own Hour. It is alluded to several

times in the Gospels.  Knowing the consequences and merits of his Atoning Sacrifice –

in the garden of Gethsemani – Jesus accepted the will of his loving Father.

  The Lord‘s divine foreknowledge is reflected in the prayer, at their request, he gave

to his disciples – the “Our Father”, or the ‘Prayer of Jesus’.  On his Cross would he not have prayed – “Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  Knowing that his sacrificial death would

make possible  the  Bread from Heaven, his Body and Blood for the world, he taught 

his disciples to pray for their daily bread – his Body and Blood that would become the

Eucharist.  He knew also, that his Atoning Sacrifice would accomplish the forgiveness

of sins and deal – death to death.

    One Holy Thursday some years ago, I was privileged to attend the Chrism Mass at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This Mass celebrates the institution of the Eucharist and the

institution of Ordination. It was truly an ‘epiphany’ for me, a revelation!  There was the Pope  (now SaintJohn Paul II) , many cardinals, bishops, hundreds of priests, and hundreds of lay men and women theseordained ministers had taught the way to God’s kingdom, offered the Eucharist for them , or themselves, & absolved for the forgiveness of sins. Truly a great assembly! I realized then, that without the Eucharist,  and the Priesthood – there is no Church. No great assembly!

   In the reading from 1^st Corinthians, Paul gives what is probably the oldest description of  the celebration of the Eucharist.  The  foot-washing  we just observed, symbolizes the humble, loving,service we are all called to as members of the Church, the Body on Christ on earth.

   Through being taught the way to God, through the forgiveness of sins, through the

Eucharist  – we are disposed to love one another.

   Given God’s self-revelation as Trinity, in our way of thinking, we would expect the new commandment to be – “Thou shalt love the Father and the Son and  the Holy Spirit!”.

     But no! God is Love! We, created in God’s image, are commanded to LOVE ONE ANOTHER,! To love as God – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit love, Selflessly  Amen