Eucharist, Service, and Priesthood

Homily for Holy Thursday

Tonight, we celebrate the gift of the Eucharist. We might celebrate the Eucharist every day, or certainly every Sunday, but tonight we celebrate its gift to us and its meaning in the context of the life-giving story of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection. Tonight, we also celebrate the gift of ministry and service. We are not only the gifted tonight. We are also given a lesson in how we are to give ourselves to and for each other. Finally, tonight, we celebrate the gift of Priesthood to the Church, a gift that befall receive from Jesus as those who are bathed in him in Baptism.

With the Exodus story of the Passover tradition and with Paul's account of the Last Supper story, we are free to enjoy John's account of that special night. It has a dramatic feel to it. John illustrates the meaning of the Eucharist with the story of the washing of the feet of the apostles. They are identical in John. This story explains the Eucharist. It tells us what it means. By washing his disciples' feet, Jesus is saying, "This is my body; This is my blood; Do this in memory of me." And, he is also saying, "I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."

The foot washing teaches several things. It is not easy to have our feet washed. They are not always very attractive. It is a part of our bodies that we rarely let others touch or caress. And, it is not easy to wash the feet of another. This is all a powerful drama representing the power of love. It is not easy for me to let you love me. It is not easy for me to love you. Parts of me are not very acceptable. I'll let you love certain parts of me, but rarely will I let anyone close to the parts of me which are unattractive. At the same time, when I love you, I often will love you when you are most presentable or attractive. When you put me off or when you are not at your best, I don't do so well at loving.

Jesus loves us unconditionally. He loves us, not because we deserve it. He loves us because we need loving. He tells us to love the same way. Tonight, we are given his Eucharistic, a self-sacrificing example of how to love each other. "This much," he says. "Love each other this completely, this freely, loving the most unattractive parts of each other, where love is needed most."

At this point, I should explain that we are not going to act out the washing of feet this evening. In all honesty, I have to admit that my age and my disability make it impossible for me to be the minister of this symbolic washing. So tonight we are going to do something a little simpler. We are going to wash hands. Obviously, part of the symbolism of foot washing will be lost because our hands are not as unattractive as our feet. However, because we do wish to represent the gift of service that we have been given by virtue of our baptism, we will opt for this simpler symbol.

As we enter the Sacred Triduum, we leave our Lenten journey behind and enter into this sacred time in which we not only commemorate but also make visible the sacrifice of Jesus who loves us so much that he is willing to offer his very life for us. As we receive him in the Eucharist this evening, we remember that this gift comes with a great responsibility to live it out in our day to day lives.