Thanksgiving Memorials

Homily for Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper

Typically, thanksgiving Psalms shift back and forth between praise of God and the description of a past danger. This alternating mood adds to the intensity of Psalm 116 which we use this evening as our responsorial song along with a verse that comes from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.

The verse that comes from St. Paul refers to the blessing cup of the Eucharist. In Judaism the blessing cup is the third cup of the Passover celebration. The Old Testament psalm composer wrote about the cup of salvation. Specifically, the composer is writing about an occasion when someone in the community had begun to spread lies about him. These lies threatened to ruin his reputation within the community. Consequently, he called upon God to come to his aid. When the lies were revealed and repudiated, the composer wrote this psalm in thanksgiving for God’s intervention in his life.

The church uses this particular psalm for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper after the very first reading from the book of Exodus which describes the memorial of God’s deliverance of the chosen people from Egyptian slavery. That memorial is an called Passover and is celebrated to this very day by our Jewish brothers and sisters. The Exodus is the experience which defines God and God’s people, for it is God who delivers them from slavery. This thanksgiving song of God’s people is a reminder of the constant thanksgiving due to God for that primary experience of salvation: “How can I repay the Lord for all the good done for me?”

In St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, he recites the traditional narrative of the primary Christian Memorial of God’s deliverance which is accomplished through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. He is the first to write this account which preserves the words and actions of Jesus at the Last Supper. This memorial, like Passover, refers to a festival meal and to blood, signs of shared life. The blessing cup of each celebration unites those who share it with each other and with God. Each blessing cup is a cup of salvation, marking God’s rescue of the costly lives of the faithful. Each memorial, each Mass, is a celebration of thanksgiving to God for so great a love.

The Gospel text for this evening describes the other Christian Memorial of our salvation in Christ. Just as he will lay down his life for the sake of others and take it up again, Jesus lays down his outer garments in service and takes them up again. This is the model for his disciples to follow. As Jesus has done, we must also do. This is another sign of shared life. This is another memorial. This is another sacrifice of thanksgiving.

It is hard not to feel the weight of many different emotions as we enter the Upper Room with Jesus at the Last Supper, even from our privileged vantage point in history. We know the immense importance of the night with its institution of two sacraments, the priesthood and the Eucharist. At the same time, we are aware of the additional events of that night and how the intimacy of the evening will quickly be overshadowed by the weaknesses and sinfulness of those present, just hours later. These failures are on full display with the betrayal and abandonment of Jesus to unjust accusations, humiliation, brutal torture, and painful death. The lies that were told about the psalmist are proleptic of the lies that are told about Jesus.

There is much for us on which to reflect as we pray before the Blessed Sacrament this evening. We bring our joys and sorrows, our faithfulness and our weaknesses, knowing that God’s love for us, and his dying for our sins, is his doing, not ours. Just as God saved the Israelites through the Passover, God saves us through the obedience of his Son. God’s limitless mercy overshadows our weaknesses. In Christ, we have met and will continue to meet love and mercy incarnate in this Most Blessed Sacrament. We are entrusted with the difficult but privileged task of not just sharing that story but living it in our world today.