I
InThePew
Guest
It’s becoming almost a cliché to say we live in exceptional times true though it may be. Celebrating mass alone seems to be my new normal and though this mass is the only that can never celebrate without a congregation exceptional times call for exceptions. So I stand here alone but also standing in solidarity with my brother priests throughout our diocese, our country, our world; standing united through Christ with them and all the people of God.
So what makes tonight so special? After all it’s only the start of Easter the best bits are still to come. To borrow from the Jewish tradition we might ask what makes this night different from every other night? That question is asked at a Jewish Passover meal when the events recounted in our first reading are recalled – the forerunner for our own sacred meal.
On this night we remember Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist when the night before he died he took bread and gave it to his disciples saying take, eat, this is my body which will be given up for you. When supper was ended he took the chalice, gave it to them saying take, drink, this is my blood which will be poured out for you. As they gathered in the Passover season recalling the old covenant, he instituted a new and eternal covenant sealed not in the blood of a lamb but his own blood poured out for us and for our Salvation. As he commanded, we remember this every time we celebrate mass, not simply as something which happened in the past but bringing it to mind in the here and now, making it part of our present and future too.
Surprisingly, John’s gospel doesn’t actually include this institution narrative, focusing instead on the deeper meaning. John alone among the evangelists recounts Jesus’ washing his disciples feet, when our Lord and master stooped down and, taking the role of a slave, washed his disciples feet.
Normally, we would undertake this ourselves at this mass fulfilling his Mandatum or commandment. Obviously that’s not possible; I could wash my own feet but that’d sort of defeat the purpose. We need to remember what Jesus has done for us is far more than wash our feet, he’s washed us clean of our sinfulness with his own blood offering his body his own self for our sake enduring death that we might enjoy eternal life.
While we may not be called to die for him, all of us are called to live for him; imitating his life in our own. Although no small ask it is possible with God’s help and our own willingness. As John reminds us elsewhere in the scriptures, this is what love is not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and given us his Son as a means of forgiveness for our sins.
As Jesus reminds us the servant is not greater than the master. Just as he showed how perfect his love was for us, so too we must love others as he has loved us; not because of our goodness our achievements our successes but our sinfulness our faults our failure to love him as he has loved us.
As we enter into these three days of Easter, the great Triduum, we join our prayers and love with one another, remembering Christ’s great act of love for us through whom we have been delivered and saved; we remember we celebrate we believe.
So what makes tonight so special? After all it’s only the start of Easter the best bits are still to come. To borrow from the Jewish tradition we might ask what makes this night different from every other night? That question is asked at a Jewish Passover meal when the events recounted in our first reading are recalled – the forerunner for our own sacred meal.
On this night we remember Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist when the night before he died he took bread and gave it to his disciples saying take, eat, this is my body which will be given up for you. When supper was ended he took the chalice, gave it to them saying take, drink, this is my blood which will be poured out for you. As they gathered in the Passover season recalling the old covenant, he instituted a new and eternal covenant sealed not in the blood of a lamb but his own blood poured out for us and for our Salvation. As he commanded, we remember this every time we celebrate mass, not simply as something which happened in the past but bringing it to mind in the here and now, making it part of our present and future too.
Surprisingly, John’s gospel doesn’t actually include this institution narrative, focusing instead on the deeper meaning. John alone among the evangelists recounts Jesus’ washing his disciples feet, when our Lord and master stooped down and, taking the role of a slave, washed his disciples feet.
Normally, we would undertake this ourselves at this mass fulfilling his Mandatum or commandment. Obviously that’s not possible; I could wash my own feet but that’d sort of defeat the purpose. We need to remember what Jesus has done for us is far more than wash our feet, he’s washed us clean of our sinfulness with his own blood offering his body his own self for our sake enduring death that we might enjoy eternal life.
While we may not be called to die for him, all of us are called to live for him; imitating his life in our own. Although no small ask it is possible with God’s help and our own willingness. As John reminds us elsewhere in the scriptures, this is what love is not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and given us his Son as a means of forgiveness for our sins.
As Jesus reminds us the servant is not greater than the master. Just as he showed how perfect his love was for us, so too we must love others as he has loved us; not because of our goodness our achievements our successes but our sinfulness our faults our failure to love him as he has loved us.
As we enter into these three days of Easter, the great Triduum, we join our prayers and love with one another, remembering Christ’s great act of love for us through whom we have been delivered and saved; we remember we celebrate we believe.