First Reading: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Gospel: John 13:1-15
 
With Holy Thursday’s Celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we begin the Paschal Triduum, the 3 most sacred days in the life of the Church. The 40 days of Lent are over and we intensify our journey with Jesus to the Cross and to the Glory of the Resurrection.
 
Jesus gathers with his disciples to celebrate the Passover, remembering the Exodus of God’s people out of slavery: they ate the meal, the “sacrificial lamb”, and the unleavened bread while standing, with loins girded. (see 1 ^st reading) The actual account of Jesus’ “passing over”, the fulfilment of the Promise, is found in the 2 ^nd reading from Paul to the Corinthians. “This is my Body ... this is the cup of the new covenant in my Blood.”  But Jesus explains this new covenant in the washing of the feet (The Mandatum: see the Gospel): “Do you know what I have done to you? … So, if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. … For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
 
Jesus, as always, turns religion upside down: he expands on it, he purifies the tradition – true religion insists on service, on love. How we prepare for the Eucharist with lives well lived for others and how our good actions flow from the Eucharist is, in fact, very much a part of the Eucharist. We celebrate this evening the institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood and we cannot be together for the celebration.    We are called and anointed to be the Eucharist, to be disciples and to carry on what he has taught, to wash one anther’s feet.
 
This is not a normal Holy Thursday but we may have already discovered new aspects of our discipleship, rediscovering forgotten parts of our Christian heritage. So, what are our challenges this Holy Thursday?

1. to experience again (that’s the meaning of “remembering”) being friends of Jesus around our tables, in Church and in our homes and our places of work.
2. to experience that we Christians have a different vision of relationships, not one of power or one-upmanship, but of mutual, humble service.
3. to praise God, despite the pandemic, “through Him with Him and in Him…”

We are called to be his presence and to carry on the work of the Gospel.  Our lives are given and shared, broken and eaten, in loving service – and at times, in sacrifice. May this Easter Triduum be an opportunity to be with Jesus, as we hear his story, and reflect on it. May we stand in awe of this great gift of the Paschal Mystery. May we know God’s loving faithfulness, His strength in us.
Fr. Brian