In Memory of Jesus

Homily for the Mass of the Lord's Supper, Thursday of Holy Week

Words are important. Our thoughts, our ideas, our feelings, our intentions, and especially our prayers are expressed through words. Conversely, God’s thoughts, God’s intentions, and God’s plan for us are also bound up in words, and perhaps most importantly in the Word made flesh.

Down through the ages, God worked at self-revelation. However, thousands of years later, after God’s words to the children of Israel had been recorded on scrolls that they considered sacred, God’s final self-revelation came in the form of one like us in all things but sin. The evangelist John tells us that God’s Word become flesh and dwelled among us. Jesus continued the process of revealing God to his disciples until the night before his execution when he uttered words that we call “words of institution.”

This is my body that is for you.

This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this in memory of me.

As I was preparing for this evening’s liturgy, it is the last of those phrases that caught my attention because tonight and the next three days are all about memory. The sacred triduum, the holy three days begins tonight with the memory of what Jesus did on the night before he died. What he did pushes our memories even further back in human history as we remember the first Passover. However, it is the example of what he did for his apostles in the upper room which claims the place of preeminence in our memories this evening. Many Christians still refer to this day as Maundy Thursday. The word “Maundy” comes from Middle English and Old French, both of which come from the Latin “mandatum,” which we translate as command or commandment. We are commanded to love one another as we have been loved, a love that is expressed in serving one another.

Do this in memory of me. Serve one another in memory of me. When you think of me, remember what I have done for you.

As we all know, washing the feet of those who entered the house was the work of slaves. They met the guests at the door and washed the feet of the guests before they walked into the home. The streets were filled with dust, mud, and dung. Washing the feet of guests in those days was most unpleasant. Jesus chose this action as a way to remind us of the lengths to which we were to go in caring for and serving one another.

By this shall all know that you are my disciples, by your love for one another! It is this memory that brings us to the table of the Lord this evening as we recall how much we are loved.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator