"Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him..." (Revelation 3:20) A collection of my Sunday homilies for Holy Mass as well as some occasional talks and reflections. May my words enable you to hear the voice of Christ, who asks that you open the door to Him. Please share this podcast with others if you benefit from listening to it.
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10:34
Maundy or Holy Thursday begins the Sacred Paschal Triduum through which we enter into the great Paschal Mystery of Christ's passion, death and resurrection. Today also concludes the Season of Lent. The sacred liturgy of this evening has many wondrous aspects worthy of our attention.
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I record this podcast on Maundy Thursday morning, early in the morning. It's also called Holy Thursday. The word maundi comes from an English version, a rather older English version, of the Latin word mandatum, which is the Latin word for command. So it comes from what Christ said to the apostles as he commanded them to do what he had done to them in washing their feet, but also in doing what he did at the Last Supper in celebrating the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Mass. This is the last day of Lent. Today it finishes the season of Lent, and tomorrow begins on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, what is called the Paschal Fast. So we spend two days of fasting and penance in preparation for the great feast of the Passover, the Pasch, Paschal Mystery. All of those words have the same connection. Holy Thursday, Maundy Thursday. There is no Mass allowed at any other time in the church unless for very serious reasons, except for the evening, at the time when the Lord celebrated the Passover meal, the Last Supper with His apostles. When you come to the Mass of the Lord's Supper in the evening, there are a number of aspects to the ceremony and the sacred liturgy. None of them have we made up or have we decided we should put it there. It's because of what Christ our Lord Himself did on this most important night. First of all, let me talk about the place where the Last Supper took place. It's sometimes called the Senical or the Upper Room, and we hear it mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as well, because that's where the Apostles and Our Lady went back to after the ascension of the Lord, so that the Holy Spirit could come. It's also the place where they seem to have retreated to after the Lord's death on Good Friday. So this place, the upper room where Jesus celebrated the Passover with his apostles, is a place set apart from other rooms in other buildings. Our beautiful tradition tells us that it was owned by some disciples of the Lord. So he wasn't hiring some public place, but he was going to the place of a friend. The Seneca, the room, was probably the usual sort of reception room or dining hall that was common in most houses at that time. But because of what happened there, the Seneca has become a place of prayer, and it became a temporary chapel until the church would take on its mission and begin to consecrate other places to the remembrance of the Saviour and to consecrate other places for the worship of the Father. So the Seneca, if you like, is the first Christian chapel, the first Christian church. And in mind and heart at the Mass this evening we are in the Seneca with our Lord and the Apostles. The second aspect of the sacred liturgy this evening is the institution of the priesthood. As we know, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his apostles and he wanted to do that. He said how much he longed to do it. But we know also that he brought into the Jewish Passover some new actions and new words. And in doing this Jesus includes the apostles in what he does. He includes them in his own offering, and he bids them to perpetuate his offering. And by those words to them, he institutes his apostles as priests of the new covenant. You see, he did not desire that his own priesthood, which was different from the priesthood that was operative under the Mosaic law, he did not desire that priesthood would end with his death, just as God desired that the Levitical priesthood instituted by Moses at Mount Sinai, would continue throughout time. Jesus wanted to leave to his beloved spouse the church of visible sacrifice, by which the gruesome and bloody sacrifice, which he accomplished on the cross, could be represented and perpetuated until the end of the world, and also that its saving power could be applied daily to the lives of his faithful. So this meant that the apostles would take his place in doing what he did, and after them the men they chose would take their place in a line of succession right to this very day. Of course the institution of the Eucharist is key to this evening of the Last Supper. In the course of the Passover meal, the Lord washed his apostles' feet. And to this day the law, the church is true to the Saviour's command to do that, to continue the washing of feet. But the law the church is also faithful to the command of the Lord to continue to do what he did with bread and wine. Our hearts can be moved and our imagination stirred as we ponder on how Christ poured out his heart in love on this last evening of his natural human life. When he washed the feet of his apostles, it wasn't just an act of service, though it certainly was, but Christ fulfilled what Moses did to his brother Aaron, according to God's directions in the book of Exodus. Moses washed Aaron, anointed him, and clothed him in his priestly garments, and so instituted the priesthood of the Mosaic law. So Christ washes the feet of his apostles, giving them an example of abasement and service, but also imparts to them the command of love, and establishes the sacrament of his body and blood, which would be offered for the salvation of the world on the cross the next day. By doing all of this at the Passover meal, which by the way he leaves unfinished to go to the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ brings the Passover meal to its completion, shows its true end, and brings it to its fulfillment. Lastly we must turn our attention to the Blessed Sacrament itself. This is an appropriate day to ponder what we Catholics claim about the Blessed Sacrament. We claim that the Eucharist is really, truly God Himself. Once more we don't do that because of something we thought up, but because of what Christ our Lord said and did himself. The consecrated bread and the consecrated wine are not an image, they are not a symbol, but they are God fully and completely. The consequence of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is that it demands a decision of us and it demands a response from us. It is God Himself, really present in all His majesty and glory, completely worthy of our worship, completely worthy of our adoration, completely worthy of our reception. So as I conclude I ask you amongst all those beautiful aspects of the sacred liturgy of this day, what is your response to that claim that God, Christ our Lord, is present, body and blood, soul and divinity in the Blessed Sacrament? What is your decision about it? I invite you to take a moment throughout this day or at the sacred liturgy this evening when you go, to take that time to think, to ponder, to reflect, and I encourage you to say yes to his love which he pours out for us in this most blessed sacrament. Use your freedom to abandon any resistance to it, to claim the love he is offering you, to claim him in the Eucharist as your Savior and your Lord. O sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine.
