Text prepared for the Holy Thursday Homily in St. Paul's Church, Thursday April 13th, 2017.
This special
Mass of the Lord’s Supper brings us into the unique experience of encountering
Jesus among the settings and experiences which he went through, 2000 years ago.
On the day he celebrated the Last Supper, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. On
the day he died - that will be tomorrow - we will enter into the experience of
his passion by fasting and venerating the cross. On the “day” he rose from the
dead (really, “the night,” since he rose before sunrise) we will begin the
greatest celebratory season in the Church: the Church which is the greatest witness
to the fact that he rose and lives even today.
We know that
in the course of the Last Supper Jesus did several things. First, he
transformed the Passover meal into the Mass, by making the bread become his
body and the wine become his blood – mysteriously, miraculously, but really,
and truly. This miracle is forever connected with the fact that he died in our
place, and this we will explain in just a minute. But we also observe that Jesus
told his Apostles to celebrate his body and blood, as the memorial of his death
and resurrection, in the same way. So Jesus also made the 12 Apostles priests,
and he set up his Church so that priests could always bring these mysteries to
the world. And one more thing he did; he gave a picture of service, the most dramatic
that he could. He washed the feet of the Apostles, which was a job only laid
upon the lowest and most useless of servants.
With all of
these things in mind – and we just heard about each of these elements in our
scripture readings – let us contemplate a most significant aspect of each.
First: when we
celebrate the Eucharist with a priest, we are always reminded of how Jesus died
for us. Without Jesus we would all suffer two kinds of “death.” We would suffer
both physical death, and spiritual death. Spiritual death is the worst kind.
But Jesus knew that if he suffered physical death, it would save us from
spiritual death. This is the great message that we should remember tonight in
remembering the Last Supper. It connects us to our Lord’s saving death. Without
this, the rest of our life would really have no meaning.
With that
said, I invite everyone for a moment, to close their eyes, and say this prayer
with me.
“Jesus, you
are my lord and my savior. I thank you for dying on the cross for me. Forgive
all of my sins, and bring me to eternal life. Amen.”
Now, one
saying of Jesus I want to focus on specifically, since I have asked middle
school students from our school to help represent the washing of the feet. As
we just heard, when Jesus was done washing the feet of the Apostles he said “I have given you an example, that as I have done to you,
so you should also do.”
This
commandment has a specific meaning for priests, and that meaning can be brought
out when there are 12 men of the parish who display the washing of feet. But it
has a meaning for all Christians, and I invite you to think about the very specific
word that Jesus used: that of an example. He said “I have given you an example.”
The washing of the feet should give an example of some particular point. And
the point I wish to emphasize to night is that examples of Jesus’s example
should be reinforced constantly between each generation of believers. Who has
the greater responsibility to give an example, and who has the responsibility
to take heed of the example? We, the adults, must give that example of faith to
our youth. They do not have the responsibility to give the example to the adults.
They have the responsibility to receive that example, and put it into practice.
I hope it
makes sense that if I ceremoniously wash the feet of our young students here
tonight, the point is not whether they are getting the example of Jesus from me.
The point is whether everyone else here is getting the example of Jesus from
the Church.
I want our
students here to help me give an example to our parishioners, to remind our parishioners
that we must give an example to our youth. May I say also that this same
pattern should exist when we have our young people participating in the Liturgy
each on any given Sunday. I hope that more and more of them can serve, sing, usher,
and read at our weekend Masses. But let us not think that they will hold onto
ANY of the messages that we receive every Sunday, unless they have a strong
example of many other people who step forward in faith, and provide that
example of trusting discipleship to our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we display
the washing of feet tonight, I invite you to think and to pray about the best
ways that we should be passing on to our youth the examples of faithfully
loving and following our Lord Jesus Christ.
After that, as
we celebrate the Eucharist, and receive our Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts –
and then spend some silent time with him at the end of this Mass – I invite you
to offer him everything. Not for our youth, but for love of his love alone.
