Saturday, 20 April 2019

Holy Thursday. Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper By Tobe Eze


Holy Thursday. Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

First Reading
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Gospel
John 13:1-15
THEME: DO YOU REALIZE WHAT I HAVE DONE FOR YOU?
There are three significant celebrations this night. Today Christ the Lord instituted two sacraments and the act of love or charity that gives them beauty. He instituted the sacrament of the Holy Orders and the sacrament of the Eucharist, then lastly, he commanded us to love. To show love to one another.
These three signs today are mysterious in nature and mystery is something beyond human understanding. We use faith to believe in mysteries. From the three reading, we can see the manifestations of these three gifts to us. Continue Reading...........................

The first reading is telling us about the preparation and the departure of the people of Israel from Egypt and the command to maintain the celebration. They also did not understand the significant of the preparation and the departure till it happed and they were explained to them.
The second reading just as the first, St. Paul is telling us what exactly happened on this day two thousand years ago and lastly, the command “do this in memory of me”. With the mystery of faith we do proclaim in every mass, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes”. This is a serious induction that we should continue to celebrate the mystery.
In the gospel, after all that he did at the last supper and the washing of feet, he asked them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?” This same question is asked us today. Do we realize what God has done to us? Do we realize what took place this day two thousand years ago? With faith, we can attempt it but aside faith no. let me take the three gifts separately.

The Holy Orders: This sacrament of Holy Order is almost the highest gift God has given to humanity. In Holy Orders we see God living among men through the ontological configuration of the candidate during the ordination by laying of hands of a validly ordained Bishop. Jesus is asking us today, do we realize what God has done for us in the sacrament of the Holy Orders? The answer remains “yes” through faith and “no” through reason. Some of us think that priesthood is built on men thrown down from heaven and that has made them to see some priests as that they are not worthy to be one. Far from that, God who calls knows the reason for the calling. We use reason to follow mysteries which will never give us the true answer. For us to realize what the Lord has done to us, we should have faith in him and believe in what he has done. He has given us priests to care for our souls. We should not look at the personal lives of priests (though they should be models), we should look unto God who called them for our sake. They are priests for us. We should not forget to pray for them for the task is not an easy one.
The Eucharist: This is the highest gift God gave to the church and the world. Eucharist is the source and summit of the church. The highest sacrifice one can make is the sacrifice self and that is what Jesus has done for us today. He has given us himself for the nourishment of our souls. He did not want to leave us as orphans rather he left us the gift of life (John 14:18). We should approach this gift with the maximum respect and preparation it needs and salvation will be ours.
Love: These sacraments and other sacraments are the manifestation of God’s love for us and that is what he expects us to extend to others. To give us a little example on the type of love he is expecting from us, he washed the feet of supposed servants. This is to show us that every position we attain is a position of service. We must render service in love for the sake of Christ and our life of grace, love and charity will grow and it is only that time that we will realize what God has done for us today. We should not forget the command, “do this in memory of me”. THANKS AND HAPPY HOLY THURSDAY.

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