Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s
Supper. April 6, 2023
Exodus 12: 1-8,
11-14; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26; John 13: 1-15
Theme: Holy Eucharist, Priestly Order, and Fraternal Charity
With this Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we have started the Paschal Triduum (this
is the three Holy Days namely the Holy Thursday, Holy Friday (Good Friday), and
Holy Saturday) which will close with evening prayer on Easter Day. The Holy
Thursday Mass is the commemoration of the first-ever Mass Jesus celebrated with
his disciples at the Last Supper Meal. “Last Supper” refers to the last time
Jesus celebrated the Jewish feast of “Passover” with his disciples, the night
before he was arrested and crucified. The first reading that we heard describes
how the chosen people, by God’s command, celebrated this Passover feast for the
first time. In our second reading, Saint Paul tells us that at the Last Supper
meal with his disciples, our Lord Jesus instituted two sacraments: the Sacraments
of the Eucharist and Priestly Order. In addition to these two sacraments, Jesus
also left to his disciples and us the commandment of Fraternal Charity when he
washed his disciples' feet as John reports to us in his version account of the
Last Supper that we heard in the Gospel reading.
The first reading we heard has two parts. The first part (Exodus 12: 1-8)
is God’s prescription of the Passover Ritual. Here, God explained the
instructions to Moses and Aaron regarding the annual celebration of Passover
for generations to come. The second part (Exodus 12: 11-14) is the
“Promulgation of the Passover”. God ordered Moses and Aaron to implement some
of these instructions immediately the night before the execution of the tenth
plague upon Egypt. That was the first Passover meal. Each family was
recommended to slaughter a one-year-old unblemished lamb, apply its blood to
the doorposts of every house of the Israelites, and eat the roasted meat of the
Lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. While eating, they were commanded
to have their loins girt, sandals on their feet, and their staff in hand as if
they were in flight. This meal was called “Passover” for more than one reason.
First, the blood of the lamb that the Israelites applied to their doorposts led
the angel of the Lord to “Pass Over” their
houses (their firstborns were not killed) when God killed the firstborn males of
the land of Egypt. Second, the Passover also symbolized the beginning of the
“passing over” of the people of Israel from Pharaoh’s authority to God’s protection,
from slavery to freedom, and from death to new life. Even today, each spring,
the Jewish community celebrates this feast of Passover as a memorial of their
ancestors’ liberation from bondage in Egypt.
A lamb is sacrificed in the Temple and the sacrificial repast is
followed at home. This memorial is much more than just looking back to the
past. They identify themselves with those who did leave Egypt. From generation
to generation, every Jew must consider himself as having personally gone out of
Egypt and being delivered by God. Past and present coincide. We, Christians, celebrate
the feast of Passover in the liturgy of the Holy Eucharist that Jesus
instituted on this day.
As a Jew, Jesus too celebrated the
feast of Passover every year. Saint Paul (second reading) and Saint John
(Gospel) talk about the last time Jesus celebrated this Jewish memorial feast
with his disciples. That was the night before his arrest and crucifixion. Saint
Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth and each of us of the actions and words
of the Lord during this Last Supper: Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it,
and gave it to his disciples. He did the same way with the cup. He said that
this cup is the new covenant in his blood”.
He then recommended his disciples to do the same celebration often and
often. He told them that every time they eat this bread and drink the cup, they
proclaim his death until he comes again. With these words and actions, Jesus
instituted the sacraments of the Eucharist and Priestly Order. This is what we
continue to do until today in the liturgy of the Eucharist and in the ministry
of the priesthood. We need to know that whenever you and I participate in Mass,
we share the Body and Blood of Christ and proclaim the death of the Lord Jesus,
our Paschal sacrifice who offered his life to free us from the bondage of sin.
This is the vertical dimension of the Eucharist.
Saint John gives us his version of
the same Last Supper account in our Gospel. He mentions another event that
Jesus did before he instituted the Eucharist and Holy Order. For Saint John, Jesus
got down on his knees, washed the feet of his disciples, and commanded them to
do the same to one another. (John 13: 15). In addition to the Eucharist and
Priestly Order, here Jesus left us a commandment of Fraternal Charity which is
the horizontal dimension of the Eucharist. The “Passover” gets another meaning
here: We are called to “pass over” from our self-centeredness to other-centeredness.
Tonight, as we celebrate the mass
of the Last Supper, Jesus commends us to continue celebrating the same Mass in
his remembrance. So, every time that you and I attend the liturgy of the
Eucharist, we know now that we do it in Jesus’ remembrance. Like the Jewish
Passover, our Mass also is much more than just looking back to this first Mass
in the past. Rather, at each Mass we attend, we identify ourselves with the
disciples and participate in the present to this first Mass that Jesus
celebrated at the Last Supper. In other words, each Mass that we attend is this
Mass of the Last Supper that Jesus himself celebrates through the priest.
May the liturgy of this Mass of the
Lord’s Supper inspire us to always “remember our Lord” by participating in the celebrations
of the Eucharist (especially on Sundays) as well as doing the works of fraternal
charity to other people. Amen.
Rev.
Leon Ngandu, SVD
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