Holy Thursday: Priesthood , Eucharist and washing of the Feet
Holy Thursday:- Priesthood and Eucharist and washing of the Feet
My dear fathers, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Today is the day that our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist and the Holy Orders. Both the Eucharist and the priesthood “were born” during the Last Supper and the two sacraments; the Eucharist and Holy Orders are so closely linked as Pope John Paul said;
“We were born from the Eucharist. There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist.”
Pope John Paul II has called the Holy Mass “Heaven on earth” explaining that “the liturgy we celebrate on earth is a mysterious participation in the heavenly liturgy. That means we do go to heaven when we go to the holy Mass. As Bishop Fulton J. Sheen used to say: “The greatest love affair the world has ever known is contained in a tiny wafer of bread.”
As a priest when I celebrate the mass I am a “stand-in” for the High Priest, to use the words of the church teaching, I am there functioning in Persona Christi- in the person of Christ, the High Priest of the Epistles to the Hebrews. You do not come to Mass to receive my body and blood, and I can’t give it to you, if you do. You come for communion with Christ, to receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Blessed Theresa of Calcutta use to say to the Priests. Priest of God Celebrate this Mass as if it were your first Mass; Your Last Mass; Your Only Mass.
I acknowledge that I am not worthy of this precious gift of Priesthood. St. Paul says in Second Corinthians, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels (clay pots), to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us." I am painfully aware of this fundamental truth that we are all fragile, breakable and, indeed, worthless in ourselves. It is the treasure we hold that matters. We are precious, not for what we are in ourselves, but for what we contain, the indescribable gift each one of us carries: God's grace, God's beauty, God's love, God's very life. We are nothing without Christ in Us. Value of a priest is the value of Jesus Christ. A priest without Jesus and the Eucharist is equal to nothing. That is why we are asking you to pray everyday for the priests. Priests are just Copies of Christ. When we make copies we copy from the original. Yes duplicate from the Original. Do not follow any priest, but Follow our Lord Jesus Christ who asks us all to follow Him.
The life of a Christian in the world is a pilgrimage, a long, hard journey. Along the way we get tired and worn out and we are tempted to give up and turn back. But Jesus has provided us with the Eucharist as a place where we can go in to bathe our aching feet and to be refreshed in body and soul for the journey that is still ahead.
Jesus said in our gospel today in John 13:15 “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you”. What is the example he showed us to follow. In verse 4 and 5 we read “He got up from the meal, took off His outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel.”
We could pick up 6 main points that He did in those two sentences.
1. He rose…
To do anything serious in our lives we need to get up from were we are comfortable with. The prodigal son got up from the pit … We need to get up from our sinful nature… Our sinful habits…We need to rise from Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and Pride.
2. Took of His outer Garments…
We need to take off all the Outer Masks that we are wearing. As Jesus said stop living like the white washed tombs. Take off the outer garments of pride and be thankful to God all what we are and what we have because it is all His Mercy. Our Lives are symbols of God’s Mercy and Generosity.
3. Took a towel and tied it around His waist…
Linen Cloth, a towel is a symbol of poverty, simple life. When Baby Jesus was born Mother Mary wrapped Him with a Towel, when Jesus died they wrapped him with a towel and when Jesus rose from the dead they saw a towel folded and kept aside.
Tying the towel is a symbol of readiness to serve and Being Keen. Jesus is asking us to be available and being accessible to God and for His people. Be ready to serve.
4. Poured Water into a basin…
Water is a symbol of Holy Spirit. In John 2: Jesus changed water into wine and in Last Supper this wine Jesus is changing into His Blood. Jesus is prepared for his Mission. He wishes to give us His spirit.
You can almost hear the sound of the water as it fills the basin. When you listen to the life of Jesus, you hear that sound constantly. Jesus saw how people fill their lives with things, with attitudes, with stuff that did not give life. He came to fill people’s lives with God’s grace, God’s love, and God’s care. Jesus says this grace and love and care will overflow, if you make room for it. Each time we come to this table we are challenged to ask: where am I empty, and will I let Jesus fill that space?
5. Wash the disciples’ Feet… I wish to emphasis this point.
Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe and the Lord of all, gets down on his knees and in an act of love bathes the feet of his disciples. Kneeling down before anyone is a dying to oneself. Jesus is showing us the servant Mentality for us to follow. He is washing all our sins.
Our God in His humility gives to us an example in the washing of the feet of what it means to be a servant, what it means to love, what it means to be humble.
At the time of Jesus, there were no shoes or socks; maybe something resembling a sandal. For the most part it was bare feet. And they were dirty; not just from the day, but from weeks and months and years. It was probably a lot of work to get them clean. Throughout his life, Jesus went to people whose lives were dirty and messy; people others had dismissed as sinners or as too much work. The story of Passover is about God’s care for people who are not always that loveable or perfect or good. And that is the meaning of these feet being washed. It is the meaning of our coming to this table each week. Jesus is not interested in only the good parts of your life; he is interested in the places where you are rough, messed up, unpleasant. He wants to wash your life with his love. To be a Christian is to be prepared to kneel down and perform the lowliest of tasks for another. It is to be a servant for the sake of Jesus.
Judas was one of those twelve. Judas had his feet washed by Jesus. I wonder what went on in the hearts and minds of Judas and Jesus at that moment. It required utter and total humility for Jesus to wash the feet of the one He knew was to betray Him. My sisters and brothers, how many of us would wash the feet of the person who we may find most difficult in life? Of a person who we might totally dislike? Of a person who has harmed us, hurt us, wounded us? Yet Jesus, in His radical humility, reminds us that we are to do the same that we are to imitate Him.
It serves as an excellent meditation for all of us of what we are called to do and how we are called to serve.
6. He dries them with the Towel…
There is something very touching about drying feet; it takes some time, it requires a kind of tenderness and caring. Coming to this table is not about devotion and piety. There is a demand attached to your coming: that you have to be more tender, more caring, more loving. You do not leave here and change the world. You leave, with a towel around your waist, ready to simply be gentler, more peaceful, and attentive to others’ needs.
1 John 1:7 says “the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
In Ephesians 5: 26,27 we read “ Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”
The other side of the coin, which is equally important, is that after our feet have been washed by the Lord, we must go and wash the feet of others. Let us allow Jesus, through this Eucharist, to wash our feet, and as we enter into communion with His Blood, let us pray that we may receive that love and live it out each day until that day when we enter into the fullness of love itself.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear fathers, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Today is the day that our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist and the Holy Orders. Both the Eucharist and the priesthood “were born” during the Last Supper and the two sacraments; the Eucharist and Holy Orders are so closely linked as Pope John Paul said;
“We were born from the Eucharist. There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist.”
Pope John Paul II has called the Holy Mass “Heaven on earth” explaining that “the liturgy we celebrate on earth is a mysterious participation in the heavenly liturgy. That means we do go to heaven when we go to the holy Mass. As Bishop Fulton J. Sheen used to say: “The greatest love affair the world has ever known is contained in a tiny wafer of bread.”
As a priest when I celebrate the mass I am a “stand-in” for the High Priest, to use the words of the church teaching, I am there functioning in Persona Christi- in the person of Christ, the High Priest of the Epistles to the Hebrews. You do not come to Mass to receive my body and blood, and I can’t give it to you, if you do. You come for communion with Christ, to receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Blessed Theresa of Calcutta use to say to the Priests. Priest of God Celebrate this Mass as if it were your first Mass; Your Last Mass; Your Only Mass.
I acknowledge that I am not worthy of this precious gift of Priesthood. St. Paul says in Second Corinthians, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels (clay pots), to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us." I am painfully aware of this fundamental truth that we are all fragile, breakable and, indeed, worthless in ourselves. It is the treasure we hold that matters. We are precious, not for what we are in ourselves, but for what we contain, the indescribable gift each one of us carries: God's grace, God's beauty, God's love, God's very life. We are nothing without Christ in Us. Value of a priest is the value of Jesus Christ. A priest without Jesus and the Eucharist is equal to nothing. That is why we are asking you to pray everyday for the priests. Priests are just Copies of Christ. When we make copies we copy from the original. Yes duplicate from the Original. Do not follow any priest, but Follow our Lord Jesus Christ who asks us all to follow Him.
The life of a Christian in the world is a pilgrimage, a long, hard journey. Along the way we get tired and worn out and we are tempted to give up and turn back. But Jesus has provided us with the Eucharist as a place where we can go in to bathe our aching feet and to be refreshed in body and soul for the journey that is still ahead.
Jesus said in our gospel today in John 13:15 “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you”. What is the example he showed us to follow. In verse 4 and 5 we read “He got up from the meal, took off His outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel.”
We could pick up 6 main points that He did in those two sentences.
1. He rose…
To do anything serious in our lives we need to get up from were we are comfortable with. The prodigal son got up from the pit … We need to get up from our sinful nature… Our sinful habits…We need to rise from Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and Pride.
2. Took of His outer Garments…
We need to take off all the Outer Masks that we are wearing. As Jesus said stop living like the white washed tombs. Take off the outer garments of pride and be thankful to God all what we are and what we have because it is all His Mercy. Our Lives are symbols of God’s Mercy and Generosity.
3. Took a towel and tied it around His waist…
Linen Cloth, a towel is a symbol of poverty, simple life. When Baby Jesus was born Mother Mary wrapped Him with a Towel, when Jesus died they wrapped him with a towel and when Jesus rose from the dead they saw a towel folded and kept aside.
Tying the towel is a symbol of readiness to serve and Being Keen. Jesus is asking us to be available and being accessible to God and for His people. Be ready to serve.
4. Poured Water into a basin…
Water is a symbol of Holy Spirit. In John 2: Jesus changed water into wine and in Last Supper this wine Jesus is changing into His Blood. Jesus is prepared for his Mission. He wishes to give us His spirit.
You can almost hear the sound of the water as it fills the basin. When you listen to the life of Jesus, you hear that sound constantly. Jesus saw how people fill their lives with things, with attitudes, with stuff that did not give life. He came to fill people’s lives with God’s grace, God’s love, and God’s care. Jesus says this grace and love and care will overflow, if you make room for it. Each time we come to this table we are challenged to ask: where am I empty, and will I let Jesus fill that space?
5. Wash the disciples’ Feet… I wish to emphasis this point.
Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe and the Lord of all, gets down on his knees and in an act of love bathes the feet of his disciples. Kneeling down before anyone is a dying to oneself. Jesus is showing us the servant Mentality for us to follow. He is washing all our sins.
Our God in His humility gives to us an example in the washing of the feet of what it means to be a servant, what it means to love, what it means to be humble.
At the time of Jesus, there were no shoes or socks; maybe something resembling a sandal. For the most part it was bare feet. And they were dirty; not just from the day, but from weeks and months and years. It was probably a lot of work to get them clean. Throughout his life, Jesus went to people whose lives were dirty and messy; people others had dismissed as sinners or as too much work. The story of Passover is about God’s care for people who are not always that loveable or perfect or good. And that is the meaning of these feet being washed. It is the meaning of our coming to this table each week. Jesus is not interested in only the good parts of your life; he is interested in the places where you are rough, messed up, unpleasant. He wants to wash your life with his love. To be a Christian is to be prepared to kneel down and perform the lowliest of tasks for another. It is to be a servant for the sake of Jesus.
Judas was one of those twelve. Judas had his feet washed by Jesus. I wonder what went on in the hearts and minds of Judas and Jesus at that moment. It required utter and total humility for Jesus to wash the feet of the one He knew was to betray Him. My sisters and brothers, how many of us would wash the feet of the person who we may find most difficult in life? Of a person who we might totally dislike? Of a person who has harmed us, hurt us, wounded us? Yet Jesus, in His radical humility, reminds us that we are to do the same that we are to imitate Him.
It serves as an excellent meditation for all of us of what we are called to do and how we are called to serve.
6. He dries them with the Towel…
There is something very touching about drying feet; it takes some time, it requires a kind of tenderness and caring. Coming to this table is not about devotion and piety. There is a demand attached to your coming: that you have to be more tender, more caring, more loving. You do not leave here and change the world. You leave, with a towel around your waist, ready to simply be gentler, more peaceful, and attentive to others’ needs.
1 John 1:7 says “the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
In Ephesians 5: 26,27 we read “ Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”
The other side of the coin, which is equally important, is that after our feet have been washed by the Lord, we must go and wash the feet of others. Let us allow Jesus, through this Eucharist, to wash our feet, and as we enter into communion with His Blood, let us pray that we may receive that love and live it out each day until that day when we enter into the fullness of love itself.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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