Holy Thursday 2018
Alice, a dear friend of mine, passed away a few days ago. After getting the news, I spent some quiet time looking through the pictures I had on my computer of Alice and her family, and the memories of our journey through life together.
Memories.
As humans, we want something of the person we know to outlast them, and stay with us. We want to remember them.
And Remembrance is at the very heart of what we celebrate this evening. For we are a people of remembrance.
So are the Jewish people. It’s there in the first reading, from Exodus, describing the institution of the Passover meal – the very meal that Christ was celebrating when He gave us the Eucharist. In Exodus, God told His people: “This day shall be a memorial feast for you,
which all your generations shall celebrate as a perpetual institution.” God was saying to them
“Do this to remember me, and all I have done for you.”
In Paul’s letter to the people of Corinth, we see the earliest account ever written of the Last Supper. It even pre-dates the gospels. It is so close to the original event, that its words are part of our Eucharistic prayer, spoken at every Mass, at every altar, around the world. The words that created the Eucharist are the beating heart of our Catholic belief.
And of all those words, one word leaps out at us. Remembrance. Do this in remembrance of me.
At the Last Supper, the little community of disciples was falling to pieces. There was a strange sense of foreboding in that upper room. There was mention of betrayal, and they were asking …. who is betraying you Lord …. Is it I ? Just when the disciples started to feel hopeless, Jesus performs the sacrament of hope. He took the unleavened bread into his hands and said “this is my body, given for you”. He asked his disciples to take it, and eat it,
Jesus was saying: This is how I want to be remembered. He asks them to take inside themselves –himself, his whole way of living. Jesus was saying: this is me, this is who I am, this is how I have lived, this is how I have loved. this is how I have served. Take me within yourselves and feed your minds and hearts on how I have lived my life.
Take me within yourselves and be nourished by the image of God I have revealed to you. A God of kindness, of mercy, of tenderness and compassion. A God whose heart is deeply moved when confronted by human suffering and need. Take me within yourselves and encounter a God who is not cold, distant, or controlling, but rather a God with “a heart of flesh”, a God whose very essence is Love, a love that washes feet, a love that is faithful and true, a love that is unconditional, a love on which we can depend, a love that can be trusted. Take me within yourselves and encounter a love that gives its life for you, and in doing so, gives you life.
For four thousand years, humankind has re-enacted the great Passover feast of Jesus and all those who came before Him. The memorial feast has continued.
For two thousand years, we have gathered around this table and repeated Paul’s beautiful words – the words the Corinthians heard and took to heart.
For uncounted generations, we have knelt and watched as the body and blood of Christ have been raised – and watched as we, too, have been raised with them, as offerings to God.
And for many years, you and I have brought to the Eucharist our various crosses and crises, our disappointments and frustrations, our worries and anxieties. You and I have brought our desire to encounter our Lord, and say that we too want to take His way of living inside us.
It is a moment that transcends time and space. It is a moment of encounter with God. And like the dew that appears in the morning, the grace from that encounter will appear in the moments it is needed in our lives.
Holy Communion is often referred to as “viaticum,” as “food for the journey”. This night, our journey toward Calvary begins in earnest. As does our journey toward Easter. Let us prepare to receive that food, to encounter our God, so we can begin that journey. A journey of struggle. A journey of faith. A journey of hope. It is a journey that over a billion other Catholics around the world are also undertaking with us on this sacred night.
We share this moment, this encounter, with all of them for one beautiful and hopeful reason:
We do this in Remembrance of Him.