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Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
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Holy Thursday is the first of three interconnected days (the Triduum), in which the church celebrates Jesus’ ultimate self-giving through His Eucharist, His suffering and His death, and His victory over death in His resurrection - each of the days is a memorial of His great love.
Exodus: 12:1-8.11-14
We are introduced to this saving history in the book of Exodus, where freedom from bondage (Egypt) to the journey of liberation is celebrated by a sacred meal of covenant that signifies deliverance, the promise of freedom, and the assurance of God’s presence to His people on their pilgrim way. This meal of covenant is also a memorial that sustains the memory of the event - the movement from slavery to freedom, because ‘this day is to be a day of remembrance, and you must celebrate it as a feast in the Lord’s honour. For all generations you are to declare it a day of festival, for ever.’
1 Cor 11:23-26
In this text of supreme faith, Jesus becomes the embodiment of a saving freedom and abiding love, as He gives Himself to His disciples at the eucharistic meal, and in doing so proclaims that what is received is His body and blood - food for the journey and a life-giving memorial that must be sustained by desire, repetition, and practice; ‘do this as a memorial of me.’ In addition, Jesus proclaims His self-giving as ‘a new covenant’ - the memorial of His life, death, and resurrection.
John 13: 1-15
John’s Gospel is the expression of Jesus’ love in concrete form - the washing of the disciples' feet. This loving action is an extension of His eucharistic self-giving, a way of service to one’s neighbour and a proclamation to the world. It suggests that solidarity with Jesus in both His Eucharist and example of service strengthens the bond and covenant with those who are His followers. ‘I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’
We have commenced the Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. Through our participation in the Sacred Liturgy, we enter into the Paschal Mystery of Christ – that is, His life, death, and resurrection. As St Leo the Great remarked, “what was visible in our Savour has passed over into his mysteries.” By celebrating the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, we live out a life in Christ, by dying to ourselves, and by rising with him.
When we celebrate the Mass the work of our redemption is made present and is accomplished. This evening we commemorate the institution of the Eucharist. On the very night he handed himself over to death, he gifted the church the banquet of his love, in which we draw from it the fullness of charity and of life.
The fullness of charity flows into our serving of others. It is very fitting that we do the Washing of Feet during this evening. It shows the intrinsic link between the Eucharist and service. Dorothy Day remarked at the moment of Institution narrative during Mass – “This is my Body broken for you. Will you let your body be broken for me and for others?...This is my Blood poured out for you. Will you let your blood be poured out for Me and for others?”
The celebration of the Eucharist entails that we follow it up with action. Lastly, the celebration of the Eucharist points to the future, the banquet for all eternity in heaven.
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
