Holy Thursday 2021 - As if today were your last

If you knew you had one day left to live, what would you do? If you knew that today was the last day of your earthly life, what would you do?

Some of us might try to fill the day with as many exhilarating activities as possible: sky diving, roller coasters, driving a racecar or a harley davidson at its maximum speed. Some of us might fill the day with fine wines and a sumptuous feast. Others might prefer to spend the day contemplatively on a beach, watching the sun rise and set. Some might tell family that you love them, listen to some beautiful music, make a video recording to offer a message to the future generation. I’d probably like to go to confession, knowing that I’d soon be appearing before the judgment seat of God. 

Well, what does the Lord Jesus do, knowing he has but a day to live? We just heard part of his final hours in the Gospel this evening. The Lord gathers with his friends for a final meal. Many of us would likely do the same. Far fewer of us, however, would likely tie a towel around our waist and begin to wash the dirt and grime off the feet of our friends.

There is something so humanely profound about an intimate meal with friends. We enjoy peace and company with those who understand us. There’s something wonderful about sharing happy or funny memories with friends around a dinner table. No doubt, this time the Lord spent with his friends filled him with warmth and strength as he prepared for his upcoming trial of the cross.

But the Lord didn’t share any old meal with his disciples. He celebrated the Passover meal, the great ritual meal in which the Jews recalled how God freed his people from Egyptian Slavery. This was a meal that looked to not only human accomplishments, but divine accomplishments, and also looked forward to the future—when God would usher in his eternal kingdom of peace.

The gathering with friends for the religious meal, of course, for Catholics, takes place every Sunday; for some of us, every day. Since I entered seminary back in 2001, I’ve tried to attend Mass or celebrate Mass every day. I know I speak for those who attend daily mass, when I say, that it’s the most important part of my day. Because of what Jesus did at the last supper, we are able to receive His Body and Blood every day, if we wish. 

And every time we gather for Mass, celebrate the Passover in its truest sense, recalling not only how God delivered the Jews from Egyptian slavery, but how God delivered all mankind from the slavery of sin through the suffering and death of Jesus on the Cross. And like the Jewish Passover, the Mass also looks forward in time, doesn’t it? As we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord, until you come again. We look back to his saving death, and look forward to his future return.

And we do so, with our friends, friends in the truest sense, our brothers and sisters in Christ, made one through the blood of the Lamb. And we eat, not ordinary food, do we? Whenever we gather for Mass, we are sharing the Last Supper with Jesus who feeds his friends with his Flesh and Blood. He feeds us because he loves us, and he knows that we need this spiritual nourishment throughout all of life’s joys and challenges. In our greatest joys and greatest sorrows, we can share in this sacred meal with Him, and know that he speaks those words to us, “take and eat, take and drink”.

“O sacred banquet at which Christ is consumed, the memory of his Passion is recalled, our souls are filled with grace, and the pledge of future glory is given to us So says the ancient hymn, “O sacrum convivium” O sacred banquet.

We also recall tonight, how at the Last Supper, Jesus not only fed, he also washed. The teacher took the low role of the servant, and washed the feet of his friends, to teach them, to give them an example of an attitude that must mark the life of every Christian, whether you are a priest, bishop, pope, or lay person. We must wash feet. Christianity is a religion of foot washing. Christians are to put ourselves at the service of others in all places at all times. 

It is humiliating, yes, but it is the way of Christ. As St. Augustine writes: “as [man] was lost by imitating the pride of the deceiver, let him now, when found, imitate the humility of the Redeemer.” This is the humble act of the Christian, set against the pride of the world. Jesus washing the feet of his disciple is a symbolic expression of his entire life-- Jesus lowered himself to serve sinful mankind, clothing himself in our miserable flesh to wash away our sins through his sacrifice. 

And so we must serve. We must serve not only those who will repay us. Not only those who look like us and act like us. We must serve all because Jesus served all.

At this Sacred banquet Christ teaches and feeds and washes and prepares us for the sacred banquet of heaven which will last for all eternity.  When we live according to his teaching and example, in humble service of others, with heaven in mind, we can truly say we are living each day as it should.

As the Lord rose from supper and began to wash the feet of his disciples as an example to follow, I now invite those who have been chosen to come forward for the washing of their feet.  Please pray for your priests and pray for each other, that we may lay our hearts bare to Christ to be washed and fed, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Holy Week 2021 - Holy Thursday Morning Prayer - Preparing for the Paschal Feast

 We’ve come to the final hours of Lent. As the sun sets, Lent concludes and the Paschal Triduum—the most Sacred Three days of the Church year—begins. 

On the evening of Holy Thursday 2000 years ago, the Lord gathered with his closest friends for the Last Supper. In preparation for that meal, around this time of day, Jesus sent his disciples to make preparations for that sacred meal—they were to search for a room, inspect it, and ensure it was furnished for that ritual meal. 

Just as Jesus’ disciples prepared for the Last Supper by ensuring the table and cups and plates and utensils and bowls for the ritual washings were in place for the Passover meal, every Catholic parish prepares today for this evening’s Mass.  We prepare the table of the altar, we decorate the church, we will get our liturgical vessels ready, our candles, the vestments, chairs and bowls for the ritual washing of the feet.

The external preparations for this evening’s ritual mass need to take place, but the internal preparations are also of vital importance. In other words, the more that we prepare our hearts for the Sacred Triduum, the more grace we will derive from their celebration. For the saving effects of these holy days are in direct proportion to our interior disposition of soul, openness to God’s grace, and docility to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.  A fervent practicing prayerful Christian will reap a much more abundant harvest of grace than one who fails to prepare his heart. And that’s true for the Christian life as a whole.

The Church’s morning prayer contains some powerful lessons to ready our hearts for the great Paschal Triduum to come.

The first Psalm today, Psalm 80, speaks of God as Savior. God is invoked as the “God of Hosts”—the leader of a heavenly army who brings victory over the evil in the lives of his people. This Psalm reminds us that the Sacred Triduum is a celebration of God’s great victory over evil and sin. But, that victory comes at a price. If you want less evil in your life, less evil in the world, we must imitate Jesus who conquers evil by the price of the cross. We must renounce sin and selfishness and take up our cross as well. 

The passage from the prophet Isaiah considered the identity of our savior. God indeed is our savior, but he does not save us from a distance. God has taken on the flesh and blood  of humanity in order to open the fountain of salvation to us. Jesus who goes to the cross is God incarnate, and we are to make his name known and exalted among all the nations.

And lastly, we recited the powerful Psalm 81. God not only saves, but feeds his people: with the “finest wheat” he feeds his people. At the Last Supper, tonight, we will celebrate how, on the night before he died—Jesus instituted the Sacrament of His Body and Blood—which is spiritual food—the finest of wheat—for His Church. Jesus says, unless you eat this food and drink this blood you do not have life within you. But he who eats this food will live forever.

In these final Lenten hours, our most important preparations involve preparing our minds and hearts for the upcoming festivities by pondering and emulating God’s great love for us. Don’t waste these precious hours on mere human activities, pray deeply during these upcoming days, that you may drink deeply of the fountain of salvation, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

2nd Sunday of OT 2020 - "Behold the Lamb"

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

That phrase, that title, “Lamb of God” evokes a number of ancient biblical ideas.

Firstly, in the Old Covenant, twice a day, on behalf of the nation of Israel, priests would sacrifice a lamb to God. The sacrifice of the lamb was prescribed by Moses as a way of asking God to forgive the sins of the world. As a way of recognizing that God and God alone has the power to forgive sins.

Secondly, that phrase “lamb of God” recalls the Jewish Passover feast. Once a year, on the feast of Passover, not just the priests, but every family, would sacrifice a lamb to recall their liberation from Egypt in the days of Moses. Remember the story? While enslaved in Egypt, God called for the Hebrew people to put the blood of a lamb on their doorposts, that the Angel of Death might Pass-over their homes. Thus the Passover lamb signified God’s powerful and salvific love, his mercy for the oppressed.

Thirdly, the lamb going silently and docilely to be slaughtered is one of the images used to describe the Messiah by the prophets, particularly Isaiah. The Messiah, faithful and docile to God’s Plan of Salvation, would take Israel’s sins upon himself. He would become the expiation through his obedient suffering.

Fourthly, the “lamb of God” evokes an even older story than Isaiah’s prophecy, a story even older than the Exodus. In the story of Abraham, leading his son Isaac up mount Moriah. Abraham had heard God calling him to offer a sacrifice, to show his trust, and love, and fidelity. And As Abraham and Isaac climb Mt. Moriah, Isaac asks Abraham, “father, where is the lamb” and Abraham responds, “God will provide the lamb”. Upon reaching the summit of Moriah, Abraham binds Isaac, his beloved son. And with sacrificial knife raised, God stopped the knife of Abraham. God did not desire the death of Isaac, but rather, would Himself provide the lamb. And so for centuries and centuries Israel awaited God to provide the lamb.

So, imagine, the electricity, the excitement, when John the Baptist on the banks of the river Jordan in front of hundreds if not thousands of people, sees Jesus, and says, there is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. A people who had waited season after season, year after year, century after century, asking, like Isaac, “Father, where is the lamb?”

And for John the utter those words, to this people, who hoped and waited and understood the significance, must have been…an ineffable experience, touching upon Israel’s deepest longings and understanding of God.

And that we have adopted this phrase, and repeat it so often during our liturgy, is quite significant. St. John the Baptist’s inspired exhortation echoes throughout our sacred liturgical rites. Jesus is called the “lamb of God” near the beginning of Mass in the Gloria, that song of the angels proclaiming God breaking in to human history. Before we receive Holy Communion, three times, the congregation sings “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”, expressing our longing for him, for the mercy and peace that only He can bring. And then the priest holds up the consecrated host and consecrated chalice and says, “behold, the lamb of God”, here He is, look at him, behold him, here is the one who takes away our sins under the appearance of bread and wine.

Our use of that phrase recalls all of those Old Testament stories and our belief that Jesus Christ fulfills what the Old Covenant foreshadowed. For when we celebrate Mass, we become present in that moment when God provides the lamb, as foretold in the story of Abraham and Isaac. We become present when the faithful lamb takes the sins of the world upon himself, and suffers death for our salvation, as prophecied by Isaiah. We become present when the blood of the lamb is shed, that the powers of death might Passover God’s people that they might be led out of slavery to the powers of sin and death, as in the Exodus story.

When we celebrate Mass we are mystically present on Calvary, on a Friday, strangely called, “Good Friday”, when the lamb hangs upon the Cross. When we are gathered for Mass at the foot of the altar, we become mystically present at the foot of the cross, as the lamb of God offers himself to God.

Yet, not only do we behold him, not only do we gaze upon him with love and thanksgiving, and praise him and honor the Lamb for his sacrifice. “Blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb”. The lamb sacrificed for the Passover was to be consumed. And so we receive the Lamb of God at Mass, broken and poured out for us, we consume him, so that as St. Augustine says, “we may become what we receive.”

On the shores of Galilee, after his resurrection, the risen Lord tells Peter, “Peter, feed my lambs”. The Lord refers to us as lambs, hungry lambs who need to be fed. We are hungry for God, we are hungry for the spiritual nourishment that only he can bring, the peace that only he can give, not as the world gives, but as he gives. We long to know that he is with us, that we are not abandoned to the uncaring coldness of the world, but we receive from God what we need in order to come to eternal life.

And we are fed at the Eucharistic Table, again, that we may become what we receive, that we may become like the one True Lamb in Spirit and Truth. We worship the Lamb, we receive Him, that we may become like Him. That his heart, obedient to the Father, may beat in our breasts, that his faith, his trust in the father’s will, his willingness to suffer for the good of others, may animate us. We fall prostrate before the Lamb, that we like him may be broken and poured out for others, for the building up of the church, for the spread of the Gospel, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Holy Week 2018 - Thursday Morning - Passover Preparations

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke each tell us how Jesus sent his disciples to make preparations for the Last Supper: they were to inspect the room in which it was to be celebrated, and to ensure that it was furnished for the ritual meal.

Just as we’ve already begun to prepare for the evening mass of the Lord’s supper, by filling the communion cups, filling the ciboria with hosts, placing the chairs for the washing of the feet, so too the disciples would ensure the cups and plates and utensils and bowls for the ritual washings were in place for the Passover meal.

Part of their inspection was to ensure that the room was swept clean of leaven. Throughout the Scriptures leaven is consistently a symbol for what is sinful, false, and evil. Jesus refers to the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees: their false teaching, their greedy attachments, their spiritual blindness.

Today is a good day to inspect the houses of our hearts, to sweep them clean of leaven: to identify anything that might distract us from truly experiencing the solemnity of the Sacred Triduum, to ensure that we’ve set aside time for plenty of prayer, reflection, gratitude, and repentance over the next three days.

The Psalms of the Church’s Morning Prayer this morning speak of God as Savior. God is invoked as the “God of Hosts”—the leader of a heavenly army who brings victory over the evil in the lives of his people. The Paschal Triduum is a celebration of God’s great victory over sin, but we know that victory comes at a price, the cross. And to share in the victory, we must renounce sin and selfishness and take up our cross as well.

We must, love one another as Christ commands his disciples to do at the Last Supper.
And all this begins by sweeping our house of leaven, sweeping it clean of the smallest little lies that we tell ourselves to justify selfishness, preparing our heart as a vessels for the Lord to fill with the wine of charity.

May we use the time we have given wisely and diligently, to prepare for the high holy days of our faith, in which the Lord will teach us, feed us, cleanse us, and raise us for the glory of God and salvation of souls.