20200409
LOVING
TO THE VERY END
09 April, 2020, Maundy
Thursday
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
Here
are the readings for the morning Chrism Mass:
|
First reading
|
|
Isaiah 61:1-3,6,8-9 ©
|
The Lord has anointed me
The
spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for
the Lord has anointed me.
He
has sent me to bring good news to the poor,
to
bind up hearts that are broken;
to
proclaim liberty to captives,
freedom
to those in prison;
to
proclaim a year of favour from the Lord,
a day
of vengeance for our God,
to
comfort all those who mourn and to give them
for
ashes a garland;
for
mourning robe the oil of gladness,
for
despondency, praise.
But
you, you will be named ‘priests of the Lord’,
they
will call you ‘ministers of our God.’
I
reward them faithfully
and
make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their
race will be famous throughout the nations,
their
descendants throughout the peoples.
All
who see them will admit
that
they are a race whom the Lord has blessed.
|
Responsorial
Psalm
|
|
Psalm 88(89):21-22,25,27 ©
|
I
will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.
I
have found David my servant
and
with my holy oil anointed him.
My
hand shall always be with him
and
my arm shall make him strong.
I
will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.
My
truth and my love shall be with him;
by
my name his might shall be exalted.
He
will say to me: ‘You are my father,
my
God, the rock who saves me.’
I
will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.
|
Second reading
|
|
Apocalypse 1:5-8 ©
|
Jesus Christ has made us a line of kings and priests
Grace and peace
to you from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-Born from the dead,
the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins
with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and
Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. It is he who
is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and
all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen. ‘I am
the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to
come, the Almighty.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Is61:1(Lk4:18)
|
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
The
spirit of the Lord has been given to me.
He
has sent me to bring the good news to the poor.
Praise
to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
|
Gospel
|
Luke 4:16-21 ©
|
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed
me
Jesus came to
Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the
sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it
is written:
The
spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for
he has anointed me.
He
has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to
proclaim liberty to captives
and
to the blind new sight,
to
set the downtrodden free,
to
proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.
He then rolled up
the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the
synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is
being fulfilled today even as you listen.’
Here
are the readings for the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper:
|
First reading
|
|
Exodus 12:1-8,11-14 ©
|
The Passover is a day of festival for all generations, for ever
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 like this: with
a girdle round your waist, sandals on your feet, a staff in your hand. 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.”’
|
Responsorial
Psalm
|
|
Psalm 115(116):12-13,15-18 ©
|
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 ©
|
Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are
proclaiming the death of the Lord
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
|
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
|
John 13:1-15 ©
|
Now he showed how perfect his love was
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.’
LOVING TO THE VERY
END
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EX 12:
1-8, 11-14; PS
115:12-13, 15-18; 1
COR 11: 23-26; JN 13:
1-15]
In the gospel, we read that, “Jesus knew
that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. He
had always loved those in the world who were his own, and he loved them to the
very end.” Do we have the capacity to love our loved ones,
not to speak of strangers to the very end? The truth is that
even with our own loved ones, we have limits in love. If our spouse
commits adultery, we will not hesitate to divorce him or her. If our
elderly become too difficult to handle, because they are demented, dull and
forgetful, we just send them to the nursing or aged home or ignore them.
If we conceive a baby that we are not yet ready for, we have no qualms about going
for an abortion. If our son or daughter becomes wayward, addicted to
drugs or gambling, will we still accept them? In addition, if our
children repeatedly fail in their exams, will we still love them and give them
encouragement? Finally if a priest fails in his responsibility and
commits scandalous sins, will you still love him until the very end and not
give up hope in him? Indeed, it is very difficult as much as we want to, to be
faithful and persevering in love until the end.
However, God loves us in
this manner. He loves us as His own and He loves us to the very
end. God
never gives up on us. In spite of our sinfulness, rebellion and
ingratitude, He continues to love us all the same, and ever ready to forgive
us. To demonstrate to us the extent and depth of His love, God sent us
His Son to assume our humanity, to put on the human flesh so that God can
suffer with us and for us. God made Himself so low as to become one of us
so that no one can say that God is so far away that we cannot reach Him.
On the contrary, God reaches out to us in Christ. No one can therefore
say that God is spared from suffering. Jesus came down from heaven,
stripped of His divinity. He showed us the face and mercy of God in His
works of healing and exorcism, and His words of compassion.
As if this was not
enough, Jesus, already stripped of His divinity, was also stripped of His
humanity. “Jesus
knew that the Father had given him complete power; he knew that he had come
from God and was going to God. So he rose from the table, took off his outer
garment, and tied a towel around his waist.” This outer garment that the
Lord took off is the symbol of His humanity that He wore on earth. So by
taking off the outer garment, Jesus foreshadowed His imminent death.
Jesus loves us so much that He was willing to undergo death for us.
Not only death but
innocent death!
He was put to death unjustly for the crimes that others committed.
In this way, He saved us from death. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old
Covenant when during the Passover, the Israelites sacrificed an innocent lamb
without defects, and painted their doorposts with its blood so that the angel
of death would pass them by and the life of the first-born would be
spared. The innocent life of the lamb was the substitute for that of the
first-born child. Jesus too is the substitute for us as well. He
died in our place and not just for us.
Yet, death is still not
the way that God showed His love for us until the end. It was the
shameful way Christ chose to die for us, on the cross as a criminal. Hence, Jesus assumed the posture of a
slave after taking off His garment. He tied a towel around His waist and
did what a slave would do for the master’s visitors, by washing the legs of the
tired visitors. Jesus, as the Lord and master, stooped that low in
humility to wash the feet of His disciples. It was not just an act of humility
but it was symbolic also of the total self-emptying of our Lord in His love for
His disciples. He did not just die in the way good people die for
love and for truth. But He died in a most shameful way by being nailed to
the cross.
In the face of such
unconditional, total and humble love, what is our reaction? We feel totally unworthy that God
would bring Himself so low just to love us and assure us that we are
forgiven. Our reaction would most likely be that of Peter. “Are you
going to wash my feet, Lord? Never at any time will you wash my
feet!” Truly, we who are sinners would feel very unworthy for someone who
loves us so unconditionally to wash our feet, much less Jesus, the Son of
God. Washing of feet here is also a symbol of forgiveness when we
wash away the sins of those who have offended us. It is a sign of welcome
and acceptance.
That is why the Lord
said to Peter, “You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will
understand later. If I do not wash your feet, you will no longer be
my disciple.” Why
is that so? This is because if we have not experienced the Lord’s unconditional
love and mercy, we will never understand the depth of God’s love in
Christ. Our love for Him will be on the cerebral level. We will
never be convicted of His love and mercy. We need therefore to have our
feet washed. This was why all the apostles had to have their feet washed
even though they were apparently baptized because Peter said to our Lord,
“Lord, do not wash only my feet, then! Wash my hands and head, too!” But
Jesus replied, “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.” In other words, through baptism, all our sins have been forgiven,
whether personal or inherited sins. However, even when we are baptized,
just like many of our Catechumens and Catholics too, it is not necessarily the
case that we have encountered the Lord’s personal love for us. This is
the cause for our complacency in our faith because we are not yet disciples of
our Lord. We are merely converts!
Unfortunately, many of
us behave like Judas. We are too proud or self-centered to accept the
unconditional love and mercy of our Lord. Jesus tried to reach out to him to save him
from destroying himself. However, he was bent in following his own will
and allowing greed to blind him from the greater joy of love. He
put power, glory and wealth before love. How true is this for us all as
well! We put success, achievements and money before love and relationship
with our loved ones, friends and colleagues. Hence, we can be going to
church, and having our feet washed so to speak, but we are not sincere, like
Judas. We will hurt ourselves including our loved ones in the end.
What does it mean to put
love above all else? It means that we are to wash each other’s
feet. Jesus
said, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because
that is what I am. I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You,
then, should wash one another’s feet. I have set an example for you, so that
you will do just what I have done for you.” To wash the feet of others is
more than simply being a servant to each other. Very often, we take this
symbol of washing of the feet to be an invitation to serve humbly the needs of
our fellowmen. Indeed, this command to humble service is not
excluded. But this is not the ultimate meaning of the washing of feet.
More significantly, the
washing of feet is the command to love those who are difficult to love in our
lives. Jesus did not
simply wash the feet of the other apostles but also that of Judas. Even
then, among the Twelve, one denied Him, one betrayed Him and the others
abandoned Him. Washing the feet therefore entails loving those who do not
love us, those who criticize us, those who treat us badly, those who are
unreasonable, those who have hurt us, those who are our enemies.
The washing of feet
means that we are to forgive our enemies and those who have disappointed us. We want to continue to love them in
such a way that we hope our love will wash away their sins, just as Jesus
washed away our sins by suffering for us innocently and dying an unjust and
cruel death. Only when we love like Jesus, especially those who are
difficult to love and serve, can we truly say with St Paul every time when we
celebrate the Eucharist, when we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim
the Lord’s death until He comes.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment