Chase Hawkins
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Today is Holy Thursday – the first day of the Church’s shortest, yet most important liturgical season: the Easter Triduum. The Triduum consists of three days: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. These three days we celebrate a variety of emotions as we recall what the apostles must have felt during the Passion, death, and burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. These emotions range from joy in the companionship of the apostles at supper (what they did not know was the LAST SUPPER). Confusion as Jesus broke bread, washed their feet, and prophesied His death. Fear as Jesus was arrested and condemned to death. Guilt as the apostles (and ourselves) betrayed, denied, and abandoned Jesus. Sorrow as Jesus was whipped, carried His Cross, and was crucified. Grief as Jesus was laid in the tomb. And more confusion as the apostles tried to comprehend the traumatizing events of the Passion.
In our liturgies on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, we feel the depth of those emotions through the Gloria, the washing of the feet, and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday, the silence, veneration of the Cross, and reading of the Passion on Good Friday, and the silent waiting in darkness at the Easter Vigil.
On this day, Holy Thursday, we remember the Last Supper in an even more special way than any other time we celebrate Mass. It was during this Last Supper that Jesus gave us the gifts of the Eucharist and the priesthood. At the Last Supper Jesus gave the disciples His Body and Blood before doing something bizarre (well, arguably less bizarre than telling your friends to eat your body and drink your blood): He washed their feet. This was even more significant back in the day because the feet were often dirty from walking through dirt, sand, mud, what-have-you while wearing sandals. So, washing someone’s feet was a sign of HUGE respect. In Scripture it describes this event in what we will hear in tonight’s Gospel:
In our liturgies on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, we feel the depth of those emotions through the Gloria, the washing of the feet, and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday, the silence, veneration of the Cross, and reading of the Passion on Good Friday, and the silent waiting in darkness at the Easter Vigil.
On this day, Holy Thursday, we remember the Last Supper in an even more special way than any other time we celebrate Mass. It was during this Last Supper that Jesus gave us the gifts of the Eucharist and the priesthood. At the Last Supper Jesus gave the disciples His Body and Blood before doing something bizarre (well, arguably less bizarre than telling your friends to eat your body and drink your blood): He washed their feet. This was even more significant back in the day because the feet were often dirty from walking through dirt, sand, mud, what-have-you while wearing sandals. So, washing someone’s feet was a sign of HUGE respect. In Scripture it describes this event in what we will hear in tonight’s Gospel:
"So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and 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 around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
John 13:12-35
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By washing the feet of His disciples, Jesus showed once again that He came to serve, not to be served. How beautiful of an event this must have been! And the great part is that we get to experience both having our feet washed and washing the feet of others in tonight’s liturgy!
In tonight’s liturgy, don’t be afraid to take your shoes off in church and get your feet washed! And even more importantly, don’t be afraid to wash someone else’s feet. Because, it is in this liturgical rite (and all liturgical rites) that we remember Jesus’ loving and serving nature.
This Holy Thursday, I challenge you (and myself) to dive deeper into the mystery of the Eucharist and to listen actively and intently to the words of the Eucharistic Prayer. In the liturgy on Holy Thursday, the words change slightly to emphasize even further the power of Jesus’ words at the Last Supper. Listen to the priest as he says in persona Christi, that is, in the person of Christ, “Take this, all of you, and eat of it; for this is my body, which will be given up for you”. When Jesus said these words at the Last Supper, He was saying them to YOU. Tonight, let these words soak into your heart and try to hear Jesus speaking directly to you: “Take this small host and eat it; it is my body which has been given up for YOU.”
Powerful stuff, right? Dive into this liturgy with all your heart and let the prayerful, penitent nature of the Triduum be influential in your life.
St. Peter, ora pro nobis.
St. Francis of Assisi, ora pro nobis.
St. John Vianney, ora pro nobis.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, ora pro nobs.
Dominus vobiscum ... The Lord be with you.
Chawkins.
In tonight’s liturgy, don’t be afraid to take your shoes off in church and get your feet washed! And even more importantly, don’t be afraid to wash someone else’s feet. Because, it is in this liturgical rite (and all liturgical rites) that we remember Jesus’ loving and serving nature.
This Holy Thursday, I challenge you (and myself) to dive deeper into the mystery of the Eucharist and to listen actively and intently to the words of the Eucharistic Prayer. In the liturgy on Holy Thursday, the words change slightly to emphasize even further the power of Jesus’ words at the Last Supper. Listen to the priest as he says in persona Christi, that is, in the person of Christ, “Take this, all of you, and eat of it; for this is my body, which will be given up for you”. When Jesus said these words at the Last Supper, He was saying them to YOU. Tonight, let these words soak into your heart and try to hear Jesus speaking directly to you: “Take this small host and eat it; it is my body which has been given up for YOU.”
Powerful stuff, right? Dive into this liturgy with all your heart and let the prayerful, penitent nature of the Triduum be influential in your life.
St. Peter, ora pro nobis.
St. Francis of Assisi, ora pro nobis.
St. John Vianney, ora pro nobis.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, ora pro nobs.
Dominus vobiscum ... The Lord be with you.
Chawkins.