Holy Thursday—Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Exodus 12:1-8,11-14 + 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 + John 13:1-15
April 9, 2020
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that His Hour had come to pass from this world to the Father.
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click HERE to read Monsignor Charles Pope’s reflection
click HERE to watch Bishop Thomas Olmsted’s homily (14:40)
click HERE to watch Bishop Michael Burbidge’s homily (8:01)
click HERE to watch Archbishop Alexander Sample’s homily (16:43)
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click HERE to read the 2018 homily of Pope Francis
click HERE to read the 2012 homily of Pope Benedict XVI
click HERE to read the 2003 homily of Pope St. John Paul II
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references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church cited for this day by the Vatican’s Homiletic Directory:
CCC 1337-1344: the institution of the Eucharist
CCC 1359-1361: Eucharist as thanksgiving
CCC 610, 1362-1372, 1382, 1436: Eucharist as sacrifice
CCC 1373-1381: the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist
CCC 1384-1401, 2837: Holy Communion
CCC 1402-1405: the Eucharist as the pledge of glory
CCC 611, 1366: institution of the priesthood at the Last Supper
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You might be tempted to think that Jesus, knowing that in just a few hours He was going to be nailed to a cross, would have had more important things on his mind than a meal. If someone came up to you, and told you that you were going to be killed in less than 24 hours, would you sit down for a meal? Many people would skip eating all together: after all, if you really knew that you were going to die in less than 24 hours, why feed your body? Wouldn’t there be more important things to put first?
But if you would answer “yes, I’d sit down for a meal,” then ask yourself, “Would you sit down for a banquet?” Would you spend about three out of your remaining 24 hours at a banquet? That’s what Jesus did. Of course, to use the word “banquet” is still selling short what Jesus did at the Last Supper. Yet the Last Supper was a banquet.
The Passover Meal was the ritual meal by which the Jews declared that the sacrifice of their ancestors had been worth it. If they had to choose for themselves, they would do it all over again. They would make that choice because freedom from slavery is worth the price that had to be paid, for God had something greater in mind for His Chosen People than slavery.
Some Jews, like Judas Iscariot, thought that that “something greater” was a powerful kingdom on earth. But Jesus came into this world for something that goes beyond any earthly hopes, plans or desires.
Jesus came into this world to destroy the power of sin and death. Jesus came into this world to offer freedom from sin, not from Pharaoh. Jesus came into this world to open up again the gates of Heaven, not the Red Sea. This is the freedom that Jesus won by dying on the Cross. But tonight, Jesus institutes the Eucharist. He establishes the Holy Eucharist in the form of a sacred meal. In reality, it is a sacrament that allows us to share in the power of the Cross, and makes us present at Calvary.
This Sacrament of the Eucharist is the foretaste of all of the goodness that God has prepared for us. Jesus gave us this Sacrament on the night before He died as a way of sharing in His promise to deliver us from every form of slavery. He wills to free us through the Eucharist from every one of our sins, and to lead us from this world into something that is greater and that lasts forever.
