Holy Thursday

Reflection

This is my body; this is my blood; do this in memory of me. The gift and the mandate. "Our celebration on Holy Thursday shows us how to proclaim the meaning of the Lord’s gift to us. The Last Supper event in the gospel of John does not include the narrative that St. Paul gives us. In John’s narrative Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. By his action Jesus says, here I am as servant for you, do this in memory of me. In the ritual of Holy Thursday we need to enter into the experience Jesus washing our feet. We each need to feel the resistance of Peter. We need to taste our resistance, our independence, our rationalizing that we don’t need healing or saving. We have to let Jesus give himself to us, let him be our servant. In receiving this grace from Jesus we become more open to his mandate to Love one another as I have loved you. In receiving the very gift of himself, broken and poured out, we become empowered to give our very selves, to be broken and poured out in love for others. Holy Thursday teaches us that it is not enough to hear the gospel. We must allow it to change us.

Prayer

O God, help us make our lives the daily sacrament of love, the Eucharist. In him we meet each other anew and start over again. May our lives become always a return to and a sending forth from this sacrament. Amen.

Fr. Stanley Deresienski, SSE
Senior Priest / Society of St. Edmund
Assisting at St. Leo the Great Parish, Bonita Springs, FL

Scripture

First Reading: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Gospel: John 13:1-15

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website