Word to the Wise
Thursday, March 29, 2018 - Holy Thursday: Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper - ABC
[Exod 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Cor 11:23-26; John 13:1-15]THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2018 HOLY THURSDAY - THE MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER [Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15] “This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord, as a perpetual institution.” [Exodus] “Do this in remembrance of me.” [1 Corinthians] “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” [John] Holy Thursday is about remembering but not nostalgia. We commemorate, yes, but we also act in accord with the commemoration. We do not put on costumes and pretend to be characters from the past. We recall great saving events of the past with which we are in continuity. We carry out the Lord’s command to break the bread, drink the cup and wash one another’s feet. We do this not only on Holy Thursday but year-round. What Holy Thursday does is to remind us of why we do this year-round. This evening, the Church gathers to celebrate the Eucharist in the present while recalling the first celebration of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. Certainly the liturgy now is vastly different from the Seder Meal from which it originally developed, but we still “gather the people, tell the story and break the bread.” If we do this, however, without ever washing one another’s feet, our action is incomplete throughout the year. Again, the liturgical washing of feet on Holy Thursday is a reminder that worship without justice and charity is empty. It is a sad fact that the liturgical celebrations of the Sacred Triduum are not as well attended as their importance would demand. I hope that as many of the Beloved Congregation as possible can make the effort to enter into these days of remembrance so that the subsequent days of the year can take on deeper meaning. AMEN
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