In the twilight hours of Holy Thursday, the Church gathers to begin the liturgical observance of the Easter Triduum. The first part of this three-part liturgy finds the Lord's faithful gathered in prayer, remembering his final night on earth. Even though he knew that his time was near, Jesus continued his work, his preaching, his living, even to the end. The liturgy of the Triduum is filled with symbols and actions that evoke a deep abiding call to love. Here then is the homily for the Mass of the Lord's Supper, part one of the three part meditation on the significance of these days:
Of tender love
Dear friends, tonight is indeed a blessed night. After having spent the last six weeks or so preparing for the festival of Easter, here we are at the beginning of the Paschal Triduum. The practice of observing triduua is anciently known in the Church, but none is more ancient than the one that we embark on tonight. This liturgy is full of signs and symbols, each of which speaks volumes about the love of our God, about His wish to be always close to His people, and about the place of great privilege he affords to all of us who are his disciples.
Here in our midst tonight, is a supply of the three holy oils which were blessed last Thursday during the Mass of Chrism. The Oil of Catechumens, used during the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism indicates a first way of being touched by Christ, and by his Holy Spirit: an inner touch by which the Lord draws us close to himself. This oil will be used on Saturday evening as we baptise two adults who will be baptised, and again on Easter morning when we will baptise three young children. The Sacred Chrism too will be used this weekend to seal the promise of our Saviour. Chrism is a mixture of olive oil and perfumed balsam. It is the oil used for anointing priests and bishops on the day of their ordination, and for sealing the gift of the Spirit at Confirmation. The third container holds the Oil of the Infirmed which is used exclusively for the anointing of the sick. Whether that sacrament takes place in a church such as this, or in a hospital room, it is yet another sign of God’s closeness and tender compassion for those who suffer in body, mind or spirit.
The liturgy we have embarked on tonight is yet another expression of God’s tender love for all of us, his beloved. He provided for the bodily needs of the Israelite people before they set out on the journey, and even today, he continues to provide for our needs, nourishing us with his word and with special food to sustain us in the task of living out the mission of discipleship today. The apostle Paul reminds us that on the night when he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it. He also took a cup and offered it. Then he shared these gifts with his disciples, commanding them to do the same in remembrance of him.
Bread and wine are simple gifts. They would have been present at almost every Jewish table. Jesus takes the ordinary things in life and transforms them into the most precious of gifts. He continues to do this even today, taking our humble gifts, our talents, our words, our gestures of hospitality, our attempts at reconciliation, and transforming them into extraordinary examples of love. These are not done because of any heroic virtue of our own creation, but because of his generosity, his love, his concern for us.
As though the offering of his body and blood were not enough to cause the apostles to question Jesus’ actions that night, he went even further. We too might be tempted to miss the deeper meaning of this sacred meal, except that Jesus himself enacted the most striking example of the night for us too. The gospel passage tells us that he got up from the table and proceeded to wash the feet of his disciples. This gesture of welcome usually reserved to a servant or to the youngest member of a household was known by the disciples, but was all the more shocking in this instance because it was definitely not the kind of gesture that would be extended by the head of a household, or in this case by a rabbi, a teacher.
Here again, Jesus lessons go deeper than they first appear. When Peter voiced his opposition to allowing Jesus to wash his feet, he was perhaps speaking for all the apostles who themselves would have wondered at this strange behaviour, but Jesus wanted then to show them that his message of love was sincere, that the kingdom of God was based on an attitude of service toward others, of forgiveness for wrongs that have been committed, of going the extra mile out of love. Tonight, we too will re-enact this gesture of washing feet. In today’s culture, this gesture is all the stranger because we would offer different gestures of hospitality to newly arrived friends or guests. In fact bearing our feet and allowing someone else to wash them is foreign to our experience, yet there is a particular intimacy that is created by this simple gesture, and this is the intimacy that Jesus wanted to demonstrate for his disciples. It’s the same level of intimacy that he commands us to cultivate for one another.
Unexpected events caused the disciples to wonder on that night in the Upper Room. Unaccustomed actions may also cause us to wonder tonight, but that’s a good thing because if these gestures were familiar to us, we would probably not stop to question them, thus risking the very real possibility of missing the lesson that we need to learn. The Easter Triduum has begun. This liturgy of great love is now upon us. As we watch, as we participate, let us not waste this opportunity to benefit from the great love that is offered.
Of tender love
Dear friends, tonight is indeed a blessed night. After having spent the last six weeks or so preparing for the festival of Easter, here we are at the beginning of the Paschal Triduum. The practice of observing triduua is anciently known in the Church, but none is more ancient than the one that we embark on tonight. This liturgy is full of signs and symbols, each of which speaks volumes about the love of our God, about His wish to be always close to His people, and about the place of great privilege he affords to all of us who are his disciples.
The liturgy we have embarked on tonight is yet another expression of God’s tender love for all of us, his beloved. He provided for the bodily needs of the Israelite people before they set out on the journey, and even today, he continues to provide for our needs, nourishing us with his word and with special food to sustain us in the task of living out the mission of discipleship today. The apostle Paul reminds us that on the night when he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it. He also took a cup and offered it. Then he shared these gifts with his disciples, commanding them to do the same in remembrance of him.
Bread and wine are simple gifts. They would have been present at almost every Jewish table. Jesus takes the ordinary things in life and transforms them into the most precious of gifts. He continues to do this even today, taking our humble gifts, our talents, our words, our gestures of hospitality, our attempts at reconciliation, and transforming them into extraordinary examples of love. These are not done because of any heroic virtue of our own creation, but because of his generosity, his love, his concern for us.
As though the offering of his body and blood were not enough to cause the apostles to question Jesus’ actions that night, he went even further. We too might be tempted to miss the deeper meaning of this sacred meal, except that Jesus himself enacted the most striking example of the night for us too. The gospel passage tells us that he got up from the table and proceeded to wash the feet of his disciples. This gesture of welcome usually reserved to a servant or to the youngest member of a household was known by the disciples, but was all the more shocking in this instance because it was definitely not the kind of gesture that would be extended by the head of a household, or in this case by a rabbi, a teacher.
Unexpected events caused the disciples to wonder on that night in the Upper Room. Unaccustomed actions may also cause us to wonder tonight, but that’s a good thing because if these gestures were familiar to us, we would probably not stop to question them, thus risking the very real possibility of missing the lesson that we need to learn. The Easter Triduum has begun. This liturgy of great love is now upon us. As we watch, as we participate, let us not waste this opportunity to benefit from the great love that is offered.
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