Holy Thursday Teaches Us About Humility And The Holy Eucharist
So we are finally here. It’s Holy Thursday. Yet another season of Lent has come and gone and I sincerely pray that this Lent has brought you closer to God through Christ Jesus His Son.
Holy Thursday marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum, that also includes Good Friday (tomorrow) and then climaxes with the glorious Easter celebrations. The Easter Triduum is not three different celebrations, but rather three different events all wrapped up in one great celebration of God’s immeasurable love for us all. For instance, you will observe that today will start like a normal Mass, but will not end the way Mass usually ends. The Celebrant will not proclaim “Go in peace glorifying God by your lives!” In most instances, it will end with Eucharistic adoration. The Alter of Sacrifice will be stripped and left bare.
You will also notice that Good Friday will start in silence and end in silence. This indicates that it is all one celebration. For example when a movie is interrupted to show ads, at the end of the ads, the name of the movie and the actors will not be shown again. So every Catholic should attend the entire Triduum. Missing a day will be like missing a big part of a really great thriller movie.
When someone knows they are about to die, they will normally say and/do things that are very important. Someone who is about to die will not call all his family and friends together to tell them one last joke. It is always something important. Likewise Jesus, knowing that his appointed time was fast approaching, shared two critical aspects of the Church with those closest to him. He shared his Body and Blood with them by initiating the most Holy Eucharist, and he taught them an important message about humility and service.
About Service
All of Christianity is about service, one to the other. In the Gospel reading for today – Holy Thursday – Jesus washes the feet of those closest to him; of course not without some opposition from Peter. He did not understand what Jesus was doing and he was very strong minded with it as he blurted out, “Lord you can never wash my feet.” Washing someone’s feet takes tremendous humility. It was considered to be part of the job of a servant or a slave. But Jesus said to Peter, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.”
The important message here that Jesus wanted to pass on is one of great humility. After he had washed their feet, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
Jesus wanted them to know that no one is too big or too important to serve. Every Christian and every Catholic are called to serve. Not only are we called to serve, but we are called to serve with love just as Jesus did.
About The Holy Eucharist
There is so much to be said about the Holy Eucharist. I suppose I can write for a very long time on this and not exhaust the subject. The Holy Eucharist is the source and the summit of our faith. All of John chapter 6 speaks about this. You may have noticed that when the followers of Jesus started to walk away from him when he said to them, “I am the bread that has come down from heaven”; and again, “ . . if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” , Jesus did not call them back nor apologized for the misunderstanding. In fact, he asked his disciples if they too wanted to leave. Jesus meant exactly what he said. Later on as his crucifixion drew nearer, Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist – the bread for the journey, food for our souls. At every celebration of the Holy Eucharist, just as Jesus sat at table with his Disciples, so he sits and waits at the altar of sacrifice for us to ‘come to the feast’ where once again, he gives us nourishment for our souls. That is why no Catholic should ever miss weekend celebration of the Holy Eucharist for frivolous reasons.
Growing up as a Catholic, I always knew that the Eucharist was to be reverenced; but that was head knowledge –head knowledge until I attended a “Youth 2000” retreat in 1998 and saw for myself, the power of the Eucharist at work. There and then, I knew that this had to be the real presence of Jesus. My love for the Holy Eucharist started growing from then on.
Maybe you are in a place where you do not understand the how Jesus could be present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Holy Eucharist. I don’t either. That is where faith comes in. If I understood something then there is no need for me to have faith in it or to hope in it. Just as Jesus said to Peter about the washing of feet, he is saying the same thing to you; “now you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.” All we need do is ask for the faith to believe.
May you have a truly blessed Holy Thursday.
