Year of Prayer: Holy Week - Holy Thursday
As we continue our Year of Prayer at St. Josaphat, the month of April is dedicated to praying our way through Holy Week. These are the most sacred days of the entire liturgical year. The Easter Triduum is comprised of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.
Today is Holy Thursday and the celebration of the Lord's Supper. On this night the Catholic Church celebrates Jesus' institution of the Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood and his commandment to serve others with fraternal charity.
Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples was a celebration of the Jewish feast of Passover, a Jewish holy day that commemorates God's deliverance of the Jewish people from their slavery in Egypt. The celebration involves eating a lamb that has been sacrificed along with unleavened bread. Jesus connects this celebration to his own pending sacrifice on the cross for the remission of sins. At the Last Supper, we are reminded of John the Baptist's cry,
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world."
During the meal Jesus
took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "
This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Since that night, the Church has continued to celebrate the Eucharist as the sacrifice of Jesus' Body and Blood each time we celebrate the Mass together. We believe that what Jesus told his disciples is true that,
"My body is true food, and my blood is true drink. Those whoever eat my body and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. The Father sent me. He lives, and I live because of him. So everyone who eats me will live because of me."
Through the Priesthood, the gift of Jesus' Body and Blood in the Eucharist is made available to Jesus' followers through the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Priests carry on Jesus' command to the Apostles to
"do this in remembrance of me."
At the Last Supper, Jesus also commands his Apostles and all disciples to live a life of service to others. Jesus punctuates this command by rising from the table and proceeding to wash the feet of his disciples. This was a task that not even a servant would perform but only a slave, as the feet were considered the dirtiest part of a person's body. At first Peter and the others objected to Jesus' act of footwashing. But Jesus tells 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."
The point is clear, we are to serve one another without reservation.
"The greatest among you must be a servant to the least."
And,
"
Greater love has no one than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends."
To remind ourselves of this fact, we also participate in a foot washing at Mass, to recall our common vocation to service.
The liturgy ends with a solemn procession of the Eucharist to an altar of repose in the Church where people are invited to spend time praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. There is an old custom of making a pilgrimage to seven different churches on the night of Holy Thursday to pray at seven different altars. To accommodate this custom, we will be leaving the church open until 10:30 pm on Holy Thursday. I invite everyone to come and spend some time in prayer either here at St. Josaphat, or to make a visit to our neighboring parishes, which will also be staying open late.
