109. Holy Thursday (I)

Meditations no. 155 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The Master and Lord has become the servant of all.

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The reader of this verse from St John’s Gospel is brought to understand that a great event is about to take place. The introduction, full of tender affection, is similar to that which we find in St Luke: I have earnestly desired, says our Lord, to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

Faith makes us profess in the words of Peter that we have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the Son of God. It is this faith, together with our devotion, that leads us to emulate the daring of John, to come close to Jesus and to rest on the breast of the Master, who loved those who were with him ardently, and who was to love them, as we have just read, to the end.

Any words we might use to explain the mystery of Maundy Thursday are inadequate. But it is not hard to imagine the feelings of Jesus’ heart on that evening, his last evening with his friends before the sacrifice of Calvary.

The first sentiment in Christ’s heart, and the root of all the rest, is an unlimited love for God the Father and for all people. That is why, at the Last Supper, with his Passion now imminent, the atmosphere is one of love, intimacy and recollection. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

He who holds all things in his hands and is rightly called Master and Lord by everyone, becomes a servant. The Apostles are astonished at this new teaching which reveals his great love. Simon Peter tries to stop him, since he has not yet come to mind the things of God, but those of men. His love is great but still imperfect. He does not yet realize that love is forged in sacrifice and leads to self-abasement. Jesus Christ wants to leave those he loves an unforgettable lesson in humility, so that we will always remember that we must be humble if we are to follow the Master.

Once again, Jesus preaches by example, by his deeds. In the presence of the disciples, who are arguing out of pride and vanity, Jesus bows down and gladly carries out the task of a servant. Afterwards, when he returns to the table, he explains to them: Do you understand what it is I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and you are right, it is what I am. Why then, if I have washed your feet, I who am the Master and the Lord, you in your turn ought to wash each other’s feet This tactfulness of our Lord moves me deeply. He does not say, “If I do this, how much more ought you to do?” He puts himself at their level, and he lovingly chides those men for their lack of generosity.

Jesus’ sublime humility and boundless love are shown in the Eucharist.

That same night, the vigil of the solemn feast of the Passover, the Lord worked even more marvels. It was not enough for him to humble himself by washing his Apostles’ feet. His love and humility reached infinite proportions when he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said: “This is my body, which 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.”

In the Blessed Sacrament we see a superabundance of love on the part of our Lord, and at the same time great humility. There he is: King of Kings and Lord of Lords, hidden in the Bread. To this extreme has he humbled himself through love of you.

Together with humility, what shines out in the Holy Eucharist is Christ’s great love. Think of the human experience of two people who love each other, and yet are forced to part. They would like to stay together for ever, but duty - in one form or another - forces them to separate. They are unable to fulfil their desire of remaining close to each other; so man’s love - which, great as it may be, is limited - seeks a symbolic gesture. People who make their farewells exchange gifts or perhaps a photograph with a dedication so ardent that it seems almost enough to burn that piece of paper. They can do no more, because a creature’s power is not so great as its desire.

What we cannot do, our Lord is able to do. Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect Man, leaves us not a symbol, but a reality. He himself stays with us. He will go to the Father, but he will also remain among men. He will leave us, not simply a gift that will make us remember him, not an image that becomes blurred with time, like a photograph that soon fades and yellows, and has no meaning except for those who were contemporaries. Under the appearances of bread and wine, he is really present, with his body and blood, with his soul and divinity.

How well we understand the song that Christians of all ages have unceasingly sung to the Sacred Host: Sing my tongue, the mystery of the glorious body and of the precious blood, that the king of all nations, born of the noble womb of the Virgin, has offered for the redemption of the world. We must adore devoutly this God of ours, hidden in the Eucharist - it is Jesus himself, born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered and gave his life in the sacrifice of the Cross; Jesus, from whose side, pierced by a lance, flowed water and blood.

This is the sacred banquet, in which we receive Christ himself. We renew the memory of his Passion and through him the soul is brought to an intimate relationship with God and receives a promise of future glory. The liturgy of the Church has summarized, in a few words, the culminating points of the history of our Lord’s love for us.

The God of our faith is not a distant being who contemplates indifferently the fate of men - their desires, their struggles, their sufferings. He is a Father who loves his children so much that he sends the Word, the Second Person of the most Blessed Trinity, so that by taking on the nature of man he may die to redeem us. He is the loving Father who now leads us gently to himself, through the action of the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts.

Loving Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Eucharist is the fullness of spiritual life. The Lord gives us not just his grace: he gives us his very self. Love attains its ideal in the Holy Eucharist, since it achieves identification between the lover and the one loved, so that the two become one. St Cyril of Alexandria teaches that even as two pieces of wax which are put together and melted by fire become a single piece, likewise, when we receive Christ’s Body and his precious Blood, he unites himself to us and we are united to him. This is the source of joy we feel on Holy Thursday - the realization that the Creator has loved his creatures to such an extent. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as though all other proofs of his mercy were insufficient, institutes the Eucharist so that he can always be close to us. We can only understand up to a point that he does so because Love moves him, who needs nothing, not to want to be separated from us. The Blessed Trinity has fallen in love with man, raised to the level of grace and made to God’s image and likeness. God has redeemed him from sin - from the sin of Adam, inherited by all his descendants, as well as from his personal sins - and he desires ardently to dwell in his soul: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.

With sentiments of adoration and unending gratitude, our Holy Thursday meditation draws to a close. If our Lord has helped us - and he is always ready to do so, as long as we open our hearts to him -we will feel the need to correspond in what is most important, and that is love. And we will know how to spread that love among other people with a life of service. I have given you an example, he tells his disciples after washing their feet, on the night of the Last Supper. Let us reject from our hearts any pride, any ambition, any desire to dominate; and peace and joy will reign around us and within us, as a consequence of our personal sacrifice.

Finally, a loving thought directed to Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. Forgive me if I go back to another childhood memory - a picture that became very common in my own country when St Pius X was encouraging the practice of frequent Communion. It represented Mary adoring the sacred host. Today, as in those days and as always, our Lady teaches us to come to Jesus, to recognize him and to find him in all the different situations of our day. And nowhere is she more a teacher than in the supreme moment of the holy sacrifice of the Mass, where time blends with eternity. Jesus, with the gesture of a high priest, attracts all things to himself and places them, divino afflante Spiritu, with the breath of the Holy Spirit, in the presence of God the Father.