Holy Thursday
– Evening Mass
of the
Lord’s Supper
at St. Mary’s
in Salem - 1 April 2021
Ex 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Cor 11:23-26
Jn
13:1-15
Let me say a little this evening about
two of the images which define our celebration of Holy Thursday, the Evening
Mass of the Lord’s Supper: first, Jesus washing the feet of His disciples at
the Last Supper before He died upon the Cross for our salvation and, secondly,
the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of the houses where the
children of Israel ate that sacred meal.
Foot washing!
All six years that I was stationed in Port of Spain,
Trinidad, I celebrated the days of the Sacred Triduum with a group of lay
people in a cloistered convent of Dominican nuns. The sisters were few in
number, elderly and mostly sick. The people who came to their convent for Holy
Week were the same ones who throughout the rest of the year kept an eye on the
sisters and saw to it that they got to the doctor and were otherwise cared for.
You might say those good lay people washed the feet of the sisters day in and
day out all year long. On Holy Thursday evening, at the invitation of the
sisters, I, the Pope’s representative in the Caribbean, came and ceremonially washed
the feet of 12 men and boys. In a sense, I was doing it on the sisters’ behalf
to return thanks to those good lay people, who cared for them and clearly showed
they understood Jesus’ teaching about the foot washing.
Since COVID has sort of cancelled the foot washing, I thought
I would concentrate more this evening on our recalling that at the Last Supper we
have the institution of the Eucharist, of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The second image: the blood on the doorposts, marking the
homes of the Hebrews to be spared from death by the angel sent by God to kill
the firstborn of Egypt!
Tonight, in a special way, we celebrate the very heart, the
center of our Catholic life, which was so eloquently described by St. Paul in the
passage just quoted from 1 Corinthians 11:
“I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that
the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread… For as often as
you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until
he comes.”
Yes, Holy Thursday is
all about Christ’s saving death upon the Cross. This evening, we come to
understand it better through the images of two sacrificial meals: first, in
Egypt the ritual meal of the Passover lamb, sacrificed, not only to be consumed
by the people ready to march out of slavery in Egypt, but that their homes
could be marked with its blood and they be spared from the angel of death. God’s
Chosen People were fed and thus strengthened for their journey out of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery and eventually after 40 years in the desert into
the Promised Land.
That Passover meal, celebrated before the Exodus and repeated
annually by Israel, prefigured the Holy Eucharist and the Good News of our
being saved in Christ’s Blood shed upon the Cross. At this Holy Sacrifice we
are nourished with the Body of Christ and by His Blood truly saved from everlasting
death.
Lots of people, when they come to confession, accuse
themselves of being distracted at Mass. They say that their thoughts are not
centered on what is happening at the altar. A lot more of us should probably
recognize that we are guilty of not being focused or not making an honest
effort to play our proper role in the Holy Sacrifice. Not all these
distractions are our fault; the situation is far from hopeless as we can always
do better both as individuals and as a congregation. Let me mention just a few suggestions
in hopes of motivating one and all to a deeper awareness of what we are all
about in the Holy Eucharist!
We need to prepare ourselves for Mass. Our whole life should
be a preparation to get the most out of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. That
means living a good and holy life, faithful to God’s commands, cultivating a
life of personal prayer and being charitable to our neighbors. It also means
using the Sacrament of Penance not just to free our souls of mortal sin, but
also to dispose our hearts to encounter Jesus and receive Him worthily in Holy
Communion. Truth to be told, although it may not be a big thing, getting
cleaned up and dressing properly for church can make a big difference in how we
encounter the living God at Mass.
Perhaps the biggest element in terms of our immediate
preparation for Mass, of getting ready to encounter the Lord at Mass is the
Communion fast. For the lay faithful that means refraining from solid food
certainly, but really abstaining from everything but water for an hour before
it is time to receive Holy Communion. It also means being punctual and getting
to church in enough time to say our private prayers in the presence of the
Blessed Sacrament. St. Mary’s in Salem has the tradition of praying the Rosary
before Mass. We start a half hour before Mass to leave those last ten minutes
before the hour as quiet time in church. Speaking of which, the interior of the
church is quiet space reserved for you and the Lord. It is not a place for
conversation. Silence in church is very important. It not only sets the proper
atmosphere, but just like our genuflection before the altar clearly indicates
that we know Whose House this is and Who it is Who rules the universe.
Over the years, Holy Communion time has caused me personally
the greatest amount of concern and often sorrow. In most places around the
world, but especially here in the United States, the distribution of Holy
Communion is rushed for no good reason. I say no good reason, because gone are
the days, even in big cities, where you must have people in and out of church
in 50 minutes so that the parking lot can be emptied in time for the next Mass.
With or without the parking lot rush, that is also my personal objection to Communion
distributed standing in the center aisle. It takes away people’s composure and
sometimes even their freedom to focus on the Lord Who comes to them in Holy
Communion. At the rehearsal with the confirmands and their sponsors on the 17th
of March before Confirmation with Bishop DeGrood, I did a little catechesis
explaining why I really like the way Communion is distributed here in St.
Mary’s. The parish is fortunate to have a Communion rail covered with an altar
cloth which makes clear that the Communion rail is an extension of the altar
itself. It is a beautiful and powerful image. Here at St. Mary’s you can come
up and kneel at the rail with your hands under the cloth to receive Communion
on the tongue. You may receive Communion in the hand kneeling if you so choose.
You can come up and stand at the rail to receive either on the tongue or in the
hand. We are talking about absolute freedom to choose among the options for
Communion approved by the Church. Thanks to the rail, you have time to compose
yourself and think about the King of kings and Lord of lords Who comes to you
in His fulness, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
The Lord feeds you and saves you from everlasting death. Do
your part to welcome Him with all due respect and devotion!
At the end of Mass this evening we will transfer to the Altar
of Repose the Holy Eucharist reserved for Holy Communion on Good Friday. The
church will remain open until midnight so that you can keep company with Jesus
and express your loving gratitude to Him for the gift of His very Self. For the
first part of that time, I will be back in the confessional for all who wish. Remember
that because Holy Saturday’s Easter Vigil is different, that this evening and
tomorrow, Good Friday, after the conclusion of the 1:30 pm Liturgy will be your
last organized opportunities for confession before Easter.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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