Holy Week Reflection - Holy Thursday
Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper
Exodus 12:1-8; 11-14. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. John 13:1-15.
We begin the solemn Triduum with the Mass of the Lord's Supper, a celebration rich in symbolism and meaning. Even after two thousand years we still catch something of the charged atmosphere of that evening. It would be the Lord's last meal on earth with his chosen disciples, and also the setting for his extraordinary command that he be remembered by re-enacting his action with the bread and wine.
Throughout the fluctuations of her history, the Church has never failed to obey her Lord's injunction to do this in memory of him. The Eucharist is the Lord's last will and testament, bequeathing himself to us in these sacramental signs, which arose out of a heart full of love.
The Jewish Passover meal with its enduring memory of God's deliverance of his people from Egyptian slavery would be the context for that first Mass. The Exodus marked the beginning of liberation, a future life of freedom under God.
The blood of the lamb which was smeared on their doorposts spared the Israelites from the avenging angel. It is no coincidence that we now hail Christ in our liturgy as the Lamb of God by whose blood we are released from the captivity of sin. At each sharing in the holy Eucharist, receiving the Lord's body and blood, like those ancient Israelites we too pass to a new way of life.
In all the upheaval surrounding the Lord's arrest, trial and death, and their own confusion, the disciples did indeed remember, as the text we just heard from St. Paul testifies. When Christ washed the feet of his disciples in that upstairs dining-room he was imparting a visual lesson of what was involved in Eucharistic sharing: love and service of one another. St. Augustine expresses succinctly the qualities with which the Christian needs to approach the Eucharist: integrity of faith, solid hope, and sincere charity. This night is truly a night to remember.