Homily for Holy Thursday 2011

Last Supper by Salvador Dali

We do this in memory of Jesus Christ,

our Passover, our lasting peace...

(Scriptures for this evening's liturgy)

In this holy week,

our Jewish friends and neighbors gather to celebrate the meal

whose menu was divinely determined

and delivered to Moses and Aaron

that Israel might, in every generation,

know, experience and share in the gift of the Passover Lamb.

On this holy night

we gather to celebrate that meal

whose menu was divinely determined and delivered to us

that we might, in every generation,

know, experience and share in the gift of Christ,

the Lamb of God.

What we do this night, we do in memory of Jesus Christ,

our Passover and our lasting peace.

On the night he was handed over,

Jesus sat at table with his closest friends who would, within hours,

flee, betray and deny him.

On the edge of abandonment, on the eve of agony,

he blessed, broke and shared bread, his Body,

he blessed and shared a cup, his Blood

so that in every generation he might be at table with us

who flee, betray and deny him, each of us in our own ways.

The same love that brought him to the table in the upper room

on the night before he died

brings him to this table tonight.

He comes to us, sits with us, eats with us, drinks with us,

he feeds us, he nourishes us - indeed, he is our food!

I am reminded of St. Catherine’s prayer to the Trinity.

Here are her words:

And I shall clothe myself in your eternal will,

and by this light I shall come to know

that you, eternal Trinity,

are table and food and waiter for us.

You, eternal Father, are the table

that offers us as food

the Lamb, your only-begotten Son.

He is the most exquisite of foods for us,

both in his teaching,

which nourishes us in your will,

and in the sacrament we receive in holy communion

which feeds and strengthen us

while we are pilgrim travelers in this life.

And the Holy Spirit

is indeed a waiter for us,

for the Spirit serves us this teaching

by enlightening our mind’s eye with it

and inspiring us to follow it.

And the Spirit serves us charity for our neighbors

and hunger to have as our food.

Such is the gift we celebrate this holy night,

the gift of God who is table, food and servant of us all.

And all is one in Christ who, upon the table of the Cross,

laid down the life he offers us as food for our souls

in the Bread and Cup of his Supper;

Christ, the Master, making himself the Servant,

stooping down to wash the dirty feet of friends who would,

within hours, flee, betray and deny him.

And he teaches, he call us, to do the same:

to love, to humbly serve, all -

even those who do not love us in return.

The doorposts and lintels of our hearts

have been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins world,

who delivers us from death and brings us to life.

What we do this night

we do in memory of Jesus Christ

who is our Passover and our lasting peace.

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