The Holy Thursday liturgy that we celebrate this evening is the commemoration of Christ’s Last Supper, the establishment of the sacrament of Holy Communion prior to Christ’s arrest and death on the cross. Today’s liturgy also commemorates Christ’s institution of the priesthood and our call to be servants. The summit of our Church’s Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum—from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. Though chronologically this takes place over three days, they are liturgically one day that unfolds for us the unity of Christ's Paschal Mystery.
Today’s Last Supper was the final meal Jesus shared with his disciples in Jerusalem. We may feel isolated from Holy Week in some ways, since we have a stay-at-home order from the governor. Since we cannot come to church for our Holy Week liturgies. Since many of us are working from home and since the children cannot go to school. But God is still with us in our experience of Holy Week. God is still with us in our commemoration of Holy Thursday and the Triduum. We can use these experience this week to better appreciate our faith and to better appreciate the presence of Christ with us. As we celebrate the Last Supper today, we think of how at every hour, somewhere around the world, Mass is being celebrated and Holy Communion is being consecrated. We can often take Mass for granted, as in just about every parish in our Diocese, Mass is celebrated numerous times during the week. We can use this challenging time of living out Holy Week this way as a way to celebrate our faith and grow in our faith, as we receive spiritual communion when the option to receive physical sacramental communion is not there. We can unite our prayers, our sufferings and our isolation to those of Christians throughout the world who are going through the same challenges that we are.
As a part of celebrating the last supper together, Jesus wanted to leave an important message to them, which we hear in the Gospel today. Jesus gets on his hands and knees to wash their feet, feet that were dirty and dusty from the roads in Ancient Israel. This act of humility was a powerful message to the apostles. It is an important message to us today. We are to give dignity and respect to all, which is not dependent on people’s titles and exalted positions.
As we celebrate Holy Week in the reality of our world today, we pray that we may reflect the spirit of our Holy Thursday liturgy today in our words, our actions, and the way we approach life.
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