By Sr. Teresa Joseph, FMA –
Once again the Holy Week presents before us an apt opportunity to get immersed into the central events of our redemption, to relive the Paschal Mystery, the great mystery of faith. The solemn liturgical rites from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday help us to meditate in a more living way on the passion, death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus in the days of the holy Easter Triduum, the pivot of the entire liturgical year. Only the gift of the Spirit can enable us to grasp the depth of the redemption that the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus has brought us.
Holy Mother the Church, with her wisdom and creativity, takes us by hand from Palm Sunday to the Cross and to the Resurrection. At the heart of the liturgical year there is the Paschal Mystery: the Triduum of the crucifixion, death and resurrection of the Lord. The entire salvation history rotates around these holy days. The entire liturgical year, compendium of the story of God with human being, originates from the memory of the Church conserved in the hour of Jesus: having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them till the end.
We are drawn into the recollection with which the liturgy of the Holy Week introduces us into the Passion: the devotion with which it pushes us to be watchful before the Lord, the explosion of joy that emanates on the vigil of the Resurrection.
Though He was in the form of God…
Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, splendidly narrates what this immense gift is all about (Phil. 2: 6-11). What is amazing for all times is: “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11). Here Paul refers to a Prophecy of Isaiah 45:23 where God says: By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.
With these words God says: I am the Lord, every knee will bow before me in heaven and on earth. Paul affirms that Jesus in his humility is really, the true greatness of his love, is the Lord of the world and before him really every knee will bow. How marvellous and wonderful is this mystery! We will never be able to comprehend this mystery. Jesus being God in His great humility empties himself and assumes the weak human condition. The “ enosis” of Jesus is fruit of Love for humanity, for you and me.
Holy Thursday
Think for a while: what will your response be: if Jesus has to tell his disciples: go tell, Mark, Rosy, Tom, Anisha, today at your house I want to celebrate the Passover Feast…
“The Master says: My time is near. It is at your house that I am keeping the Passover with my disciples.”
On this day, The Church commemorates the Institution of the Eucharist, the Ministerial Priesthood and the new commandment of love left by Jesus to His disciples. Apostle Paul offers one of the ancient testimonies: 1 Cor. 11:23-25 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, 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, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Words filled with mystery and profound significance, words that reveal with clarity the desire of Christ: with the bread and wine Jesus makes himself present with his body and his blood. It is the sacrifice of the new and definitive covenant offered for all, without distinction of race or culture. This sacramental ritual is handed over to the Church as supreme proof of Jesus’ love. Jesus institutes the ministerial priesthood: his disciples and all those throughout the course of time will follow Him.
The Testament of Jesus’ Unconditional Love
The paschal mystery of Christ is the central theme of Holy Thursday. The sacred action has its centre in that Supper of the Lord in which Jesus, before handing over himself to death, has entrusted to the Church the testament of his love, the Sacrifice of eternal Covenant. The liturgy introduces us in a living and actual way into the mystery of the gift of Jesus for our salvation. The fiat of the Lord gives origin to our salvation and is made present in the celebration of the Church, for this in the prayer of the Church even we, today are included in the Last Supper: you have united us to celebrate the sacred Supper.
The words of Jesus, I will go, will return to you, it is better for you that I go, If I do not go the Spirit the consoler will not come … introduce us into the mysterious coming and going between absence and presence of the Lord. There are two eloquent moments of celebration and we need to contemplate them in their reciprocal relationship: the washing of the feet and the reposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The washing of the feet announces, few hours before the crucifixion, the great love: to give one’s life for his friends. The liturgy re-lives this gesture, which leaves the apostles without words, in the proclamation of the Gospel and in the possibility of the washing of the feet of some of the faithful.
A Loving Response for Such a Great Love
At the conclusion of the Eucharist, the procession for the reposition of the Blessed Sacrament and adoration of the faithful reveal the loving response of the Church to that humble bending of the Lord at the feet of the Apostles. This time of silent prayer that draws us into the night, invite us to remember the priestly prayer of Jesus in the Cenacle.
The Church invites the faithful after the Holy Eucharist on Maundy Thursday to be in intimate company with Jesus in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, remembering the painful hours that Jesus lived in solitude and prayer in Gethsemane, before being arrested and then to be condemned to death. Maundy Thursday is a renewed invitation to render thanks to God for the great gift of Eucharist, to be welcomed with tender devotion and to be adored with living faith.