Maundy Thursday

Our celebration of Holy Thursday this year is rather strange. The Gospel has recounted for us how Jesus during the Last Supper, the day before he was to suffer and die on the Cross, washed the feet of his disciples. Afterward he tells them: “I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.” A little later he will say to the disciples: “I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another.” A new “commandment” – mandatum in Latin, from which comes the name of this day “Maundy Thursday”. Yet, because of COVID restrictions, out of prudence, we have not been able to follow the example of the Lord, and have the ceremony of the washing of the feet.

On the first Holy Thursday, Jesus anticipated what was going to happen to him. He took bread and wine and, by the power of God, transformed them into his body and blood. He broke the bread, as his body would be given for us; he took the wine poured out into the cup, because his blood would be poured out for us. As Paul has reminded us, Jesus told his disciples: “Do this as a memorial of me”.  This was the institution of the Eucharist which we celebrate on this day. It was a way which Jesus found to remain with us always.

Normally after celebrating the Eucharist on this day we would remain for some time in the presence of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. But this year, again, we have been told not to do this. There is no special Altar of Repose at which you are invited to watch with Jesus. On the contrary, you are instructed to leave the church at once at the end of our celebration, and our good stewards will encourage you to do just this.

Does this mean that our celebration today is meaningless? No, far from it.

We are still invited to follow the example of Jesus. We are to love one another as he has loved us. We are to show attention, care and respect to all those with whom we come into contact, in our families, among our neighbours, and with other people on a wider scale. We are to do this because in Jesus they are all our brothers and sisters, Fratelli Tutti, as Pope Francis has reminded us.

Furthermore we are invited to enter into the mystery of this celebration that he has given us, the mystery of his Passion, Death and Resurrection. After the consecration, when the bread has become the body of Jesus and the wine his blood, we proclaim our faith, saying: “When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.”  Through communion, Jesus unites himself to us. He is truly with us, giving us strength to act as he did, to offer ourselves as he did. Even if we do not receive the sacrament, we can ask Jesus to come into our hearts, to stay with us, to share his love with us so that we can share it with others.

Today is the first day of the Easter Triduum, the three days when we commemorate the final three days of the life of Jesus on earth. Tomorrow we shall commemorate his dying on the Cross for our salvation and for that of the whole world. On Saturday evening we shall celebrate the passage from darkness to light, the Resurrection of Jesus, his passage through death to new life. Today, on the first day, we remember how Jesus anticipated these events and provided for us a way to share in them always.

We give thanks to Jesus for the gift of the Eucharist and we pray that we may always be faithful to what we celebrate.  Amen.

Cardinal Michael