20150402 LOVE TO THE VERY END
Readings at Mass
First reading
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Exodus
12:1-8,11-14 ©
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The Lord said to
Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
‘This
month is to be the first of all the others for you, the first month of your
year. Speak to the whole community of Israel and say, “On the tenth day of this
month each man must take an animal from the flock, one for each family: one
animal for each household. If the household is too small to eat the animal, a
man must join with his neighbour, the nearest to his house, as the number of persons
requires. You must take into account what each can eat in deciding the number
for the animal. It must be an animal without blemish, a male one year old; you
may take it from either sheep or goats. You must keep it till the fourteenth
day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel shall
slaughter it between the two evenings. Some of the blood must then be taken and
put on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten. That
night, the flesh is to be eaten, roasted over the fire; it must be eaten with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs. You shall eat it hastily: it is a passover
in honour of the Lord. That night, I will go through the land of Egypt and
strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, man and beast alike, and I
shall deal out punishment to all the gods of Egypt, I am the Lord! The blood
shall serve to mark the houses that you live in. When I see the blood I will
pass over you and you shall escape the destroying plague when I strike the land
of Egypt. This day is to be a day of remembrance for you, and you must
celebrate it as a feast in the Lord’s honour. For all generations you are to
declare it a day of festival, for ever.”’
Psalm
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Psalm
115:12-13,15-18 ©
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The blessing-cup
that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
How can I repay the
Lord
for his
goodness to me?
The cup of salvation
I will raise;
I will
call on the Lord’s name.
The blessing-cup
that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
O precious in the
eyes of the Lord
is the
death of his faithful.
Your servant, Lord,
your servant am I;
you have
loosened my bonds.
The blessing-cup
that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
A thanksgiving
sacrifice I make;
I will
call on the Lord’s name.
My vows to the Lord I
will fulfil
before
all his people.
The blessing-cup
that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.
Second reading
|
1 Corinthians
11:23-26 ©
|
This is what I
received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the same night
that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it
and broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a
memorial of me.’ In the same way he took the cup after supper, and said, ‘This
cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a
memorial of me.’ Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death.
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Jn13:34
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
I give you a new
commandment:
love one another just
as I have loved you,
says the Lord.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel
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John 13:1-15 ©
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It was before the
festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass
from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the
world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.
They were
at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son
of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his
hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up
from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his
waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. He came to Simon Peter, who
said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the
moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’
‘Never!’ said Peter ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not
wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon
Peter ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one
who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean,
though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why
he said, ‘though not all of you are.’
When he
had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table.
‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and
Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet,
you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may
copy what I have done to you.’
LOVE TO
THE VERY END
02
April 2015, Thursday of the Lord’s Supper
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: EX 12: 1-8,
11-14; 1 COR 11: 23-26;
JOHN 13: 1-15
Today’s
celebration anticipates the paschal mystery. What Jesus did was an anticipation
of what He would be doing in the following three days. The paschal
mystery is the total expression of His love. St John remarked, “He
had always loved those in the world who were his own, and he loved them to the
very end.” How did Jesus show His love to the very end?
The
first day of the Easter Triduum is called Maundy or Holy Thursday. Maundy
Thursday comes from the Latin word “command.” In particular, it refers to
the command Jesus gave to the apostles at the Last Supper to celebrate the
Memorial meal, which is what we call the Mass, and also the command that they
should love each other as He had loved them by serving each other humbly;
symbolized by the washing of each other’s feet. Both these actions
of Jesus invite us to reflect on the depth of God’s love as manifested in
Christ. Indeed, these two poignant gestures of Jesus aptly sum up
the life of Jesus. Hence, it is important that we spend some moments to
reflect on these two distinct but related prophecies of Jesus in action.
Firstly,
the unreserved love of Jesus is expressed through the gift of the Eucharist at
the Last Supper Meal. The Eucharist anticipates the paschal mystery, His
passion, death and resurrection. He is the Lamb of God broken for the
world. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament when a lamb without
blemish was sacrificed at the Passover and when the angel of death passed by
those doorposts of houses smeared with the blood of the lamb.
Furthermore, “that night the meat is to be roasted, and eaten with bitter herbs
and with bread made without yeast. You are to eat it quickly, for you are to be
dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in
your hand. It is the Passover Festival to honor me, the Lord.”
Jesus, as the sacrificial Lamb of God, by His death, frees us from sin and
death. Christ is the first born and freed from defects, that is,
free from sin. Through His death on the cross and His blood as a symbol
of the total giving of self to God and to us, we who look upon the Cross will
be moved to repentance, seeing the extent of the mercy of God for us.
Secondly,
the utter love of Jesus was expressed through the gift of the
priesthood. That He appointed His disciples to do the same so that
future generations can enter into the same sacrifice is truly a condescending
act of our Lord. He has been so gracious to grant human beings the power
to make present the sacrifice at Calvary and His body and blood so that we
could continue to experience the same saving grace that was given 2000 years
ago. This is what St Paul wrote, “the blessing-cup that we bless is a communion
with the blood of Christ.” The Lord recognizes the need for
us to continue to find strength in Him by being in communion with Him.
Hence, the priesthood and the Eucharist are intrinsically connected, for the
Church cannot exist without the Eucharist; and the Eucharist is the Church.
Thirdly,
the love of Jesus was not just celebrated ritually but in concrete human action
as well. The act of washing the feet of His disciples was symbolic of the
way He emptied Himself for all of us. “So he rose from the table, took
off his outer garment, and tied a towel around his waist. Then he poured some
water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with
the towel around his waist.” In taking out His garment and lowering
Himself down to wash the feet of His disciples, it was a demonstration of the
stripping of His divinity to assume our humanity; and as if it was not enough,
He became a slave for us; and to the extent of suffering the most ignominious
death on the cross.
Fourthly,
this act of washing the feet of the disciples also symbolizes the gift of
reconciliation and the forgiveness of sins through the sacrament of baptism and
the Eucharist. This explains why Peter said, “Are you going to wash my
feet, Lord? Never at any time will you wash my feet!” Jesus said, “If I
do not wash your feet, you will no longer be my disciple.” Simon Peter
answered, “Lord, do not wash only my feet, then! Wash my hands and head,
too!” Jesus said, “Anyone who has taken a bath is completely clean and
does not have to wash himself, except for his feet. All of you are clean – all
except one.” So the washing of feet was only a symbolic act of the
cleansing of the soul, not so much the body. Through His death on the
cross, Jesus won for us our forgiveness by convicting us of our sins and
leading us to repentance.
In the
light of the mysteries that were celebrated, our response must be that of the
psalmist. “How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me? The cup of
salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name. A thanksgiving
sacrifice I make; I will call on the Lord’s name. My vows to the Lord I will
fulfil before all his people.” So it is right that we give thanks to God
for His goodness and mercy. By His death on the cross, He has set
us free. “O precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his
faithful. Your servant, Lord, your servant am I; you have loosened my bonds.”
For
this reason, the very word, Eucharist means Thanksgiving. To celebrate
the Eucharist is to give thanks to God for the gift of His Son, especially His
sacrifice on the Cross, His body and blood. We are here this evening
precisely to give thanks for all He has done for us and what He is going to do
for us.
How do
we show our gratitude to God if not by being a thanksgiving sacrifice to others
and fulfilling the promises we made at our baptism? The Eucharist is
first and foremost a thanksgiving for the gift of the sacrifice of Christ on
the Cross. Thanksgiving leads to service of others and the desire
to wash the feet of others. Without gratitude we cannot serve and
give. Giving presuppose gratitude. Humble service presupposes unworthiness in
receiving the gift.
If the
Eucharist is sacrifice and a thanksgiving, we must therefore render thanks not
just in words but also to strip ourselves like Jesus, who stripped Himself of
His divinity and became a slave for others. We too need to be servants of
others, not just servants but humble servants. Many of us want to serve
but we do not serve with humility. What the Lord demands of us is that we
not only give ourselves in sacrifice to others but we must serve humbly like
servants, not like princes and princesses.
Indeed,
we are called to be what we have received. We pray in the
responsorial psalm, “The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the
blood of Christ.” St Paul also said, “This means that every time you eat this
bread and drink from this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death until he
comes.” We are called to be a sacrifice for others like
Jesus. We are called to share in the sufferings of others, just as Christ
shared in ours. We must give ourselves for the service of the world and
make the Eucharist ours. This is what He meant. “Whenever you drink
it, do so in memory of me.” We must shed our blood and give up our body
for the salvation of the world. To save ourselves, we must save others.
The fruit of the Eucharist is always fraternal charity. For this reason,
we cannot receive the Eucharist when we are not forgiving towards our enemies;
when we do not serve the poor, the lonely and the marginalized.
How can
we continue to make His sacrifice our own? By contemplating on His love
in the paschal mystery. Hence, the Church encourages us to spend time in
adoration of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass, meditate on the passion on Good
Friday, silent contemplation on Holy Saturday and renewal of baptism vows on
Easter Vigil and living the new life in Christ.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
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