HOLY THURSDAY.

(Exodus. 12: 1-8, 11-14; I Corinthians 11: 23-26; John 13: 1-15)

On Holy Thursday we celebrate three anniversaries: 1) the anniversary of the first Holy Mass, 2) the anniversary of the institution of ministerial priesthood in order to perpetuate the Holy Mass, 3) the anniversary of Jesus’ promulgation of His new commandment of love: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Today we remember how Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover into the New Testament Passover.  When Jesus got up from the Passover, he was disrupting the sacred ritual of the most hallowed ceremony in Jewish tradition, the Passover Seder. God himself had established the rules of that ceremony, and when Jesus was deviating from them, adding to them, clearly, Jesus sees himself as more than just another teacher or prophet, on the level as Moses. Only God himself can alter God's commands. And so, when the foot-washing is over and Jesus says to his Apostles, " You call me Master and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

Then, Jesus concluded the ceremony with a long speech, extending through four chapters, which is even longer than the Sermon on the Mount. It is about his command of love. The pattern of our love should be his love for us. His love is manifested primarily from Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday; through his sacrificing love for us on the Cross.

What he started on Holy Thursday in the upper room was completed on the cross on Calvary. Both incidents are not two separate events, but forms single one. The Holy Mass is the reenactment of the events started in the Upper room and ended on Calvary. That is why we don’t celebrate the Eucharist on Good Friday, the only day the Church does not celebrate the Mass. St.Thomas Aquinas tells us that “the figure ceases on the advent of the reality. But this Eucharist is a figure and a representation of our Lord’s Passion. And therefore on the day on which our Lord’s passion is recalled as it was really accomplished, this sacrament is not consecrated. In this time in which we mystically enter into the historical realities of Jesus’ final days, it is not fitting to have the image, sign or sacrament of the Cross presented to the faithful. 

In the Gospel of John Chapter 6 Jesus identifies himself as the “living bread that came down from heaven”, and then he specifies that, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." Now this was extremely objectionable language for a Jew of Jesus' time. To eat someone's flesh was a term of contempt. More to it, the drinking of an animal's blood was expressly forbidden throughout the Old Testament - much less the drinking of a man's blood. But when Jesus' listeners object, Jesus does not soften his language - he intensifies it: "My flesh is real food and my blood real drink."

How can we make sense of this claim? It has everything to do with who Jesus is. If he were simply an ordinary human being, his words would have, at best, a symbolic resonance. But Jesus is God, and what God says, is. God's word affects reality at the most fundamental level. Thus, when Jesus' words over the bread and wine are spoken, they change into what the words signify. They become really, truly, and substantially the body and blood of the Lord.  The Eucharist, as the eternal presence of God, eternalizes those who consume it, making us ready for eternity. We participate in Jesus Christ through this sacrament.

The best way to keep Christ at the center of our lives is to keep the Eucharist at the center of our lives. It doesn't mean spending all of our time here in Church, though God does call some people to dedicate their lives in such a way.  But for most of us, it means simple things, like receiving Communion regularly and worthily, going to confession beforehand if necessary. It means trying to get to Mass more than just on Sundays. It means including Mass and Holy Communion in birthday and anniversary celebrations and other special occasions. It means carving a few minutes out of our busy schedules to come and sit with the Lord, to drop by the Tabernacle, where Jesus is always waiting for us. Let’s start that tonight after the Mass. Till midnight we shall keep vigil with the Lord. Jesus asked his disciples: Can’t you watch and pray for one hour with me?

Our celebration of the Eucharist requires that we wash one another’s feet, i.e., serve one another, and revere Christ's presence in other persons. To wash the feet of others is to love them, even when they don't deserve our love. Judas did not deserve Jesus’ love. Jesus knew he was going to betray him. Still he dealt compassionately with him, and washed his feet.

 The Mass is about lovingly serving others. That is why the final message is, “Go in peace to love and serve one another.”

Today Jesus challenges us to leave our places of comfort, to be ready to humbly and lovingly serve others. Who in our lives need to have their feet washed? May be all those around us and living with us.  Through the washing of the foot ceremony, Jesus reminds us that He washes the feet of everyone here, yours and mine. He did wash every stain from our lives by his sacrifice on the cross.  If we refuse him to do it like Peter, then as he said we would have no part with him. He wants to wash us from the ground up, with all the affection and hope he has been carrying for us.  We are the beloved community, feeling his hands drying our feet now. Let’s pray, Lord, help us to follow you and wash one another’s feet b serving them.