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The Mass of the Lord's Supper
Beginning after sunset of Holy Thursday, the Mass of the Lord's Supper begins with a joyful tone.  This is the night the Lord Jesus entrusted us with his living presence in the Eucharist and instituted the ministerial priesthood.  The Gloria is sung and the church bells are rung.  These joyful sounds are then silenced until the Easter Vigil.  The Mass contains within it the washing of the feet, a sign of humility and service taken from John's Gospel.  The Mass does not formally end.  Rather, an intermission begins with Eucharistic adoration which continues after communion through Midnight of
Good Friday morning. 
"As I have done, you also must do."
Sacred Scriptures

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
Psalm 116
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15
How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?
                            -Psalm 116
Click here for the Pope's annual
Holy Thursday
Letter to Priests
Tonight we gather to celebrate Christ's living presence among us.  This is a night of joy and of bittersweet feelings.  We rejoice in the gifts of the ministerial priesthood and the Holy Eucharist that Jesus has left us in his memory.  Tonight we sing, "Glory to God in the Highest!" after being silenced so long by our Lenten abstinence.  This is our Passover into the mystery of the Paschal Triduum:  the three days of celebrating our Lord's saving work.

Tonight we are reminded again of the connection between what we do at the Lord's table and what we do in our daily lives.  We expect to hear in the gospel for tonight the story of the Last Supper and hear the words, "this is my body...this is my blood."  But we do not hear these all too familiar words in our gospel this evening.  No, the gospel and all the readings focus on the living action of the Eucharist. 

Jesus takes the towel and stoops down and washes our feet.  This is what living the Eucharist means!  Imagine if we ate all the foods we desired and never were active - we would be very unhealthy and our lives unproductive.  But Jesus gives us a sign and a sacrament that is meant to fuel our service.  Eucharist and ministry are one in the same.  Both entail a giving of ourselves to Christ, sacramentally present and present in our brothers and sisters; and both entail allowing Christ to give himself to us.  Both involve a willingness to be vulnerable. 

In Eucharist, we "stoop down" to accept something beyond human reason:  that the God who created all things, the Christ who died for us and the Spirit who sustains us is humble enough to take on the clock of bread and wine to nourish us and abide with us.  In ministry too, we "stoop down" to feed the needs of our brothers and sisters.  We become living, active Eucharist in ministry.  We may actually wash another's feet; or we may feed another's stomach.  Perhaps we feed the mind in our teaching or the soul in our preaching.  Whatever it is we do, we do in memory of the Risen Christ, who is one with us forever in this sacrament, in ministry, and in each other all through his Church.

Peace,
Shaun Lowery
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