April 2, 2026
Holy Thursday-Evening Mass of the
Lord’s Supper
Lectionary:
39
Reading
I
The
LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
“This month shall stand at the head of your calendar;
you shall reckon it the first month of the year.
Tell the whole community of Israel:
On the tenth of this month every one of your families
must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.
If a family is too small for a whole lamb,
it shall join the nearest household in procuring one
and shall share in the lamb
in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it.
The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish.
You may take it from either the sheep or the goats.
You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month,
and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present,
it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.
They shall take some of its blood
and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel
of every house in which they partake of the lamb.
That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
“This is how you are to eat it:
with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand,
you shall eat like those who are in flight.
It is the Passover of the LORD.
For on this same night I will go through Egypt,
striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast,
and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD!
But the blood will mark the houses where you are.
Seeing the blood, I will pass over you;
thus, when I strike the land of Egypt,
no destructive blow will come upon you.
“This day shall be a memorial feast for you,
which all your generations shall celebrate
with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”
Responsorial
Psalm
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16bc,
17-18.
R.
(cf. 1 Cor 10:16) Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood
of Christ.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the
good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will
call upon the name of the LORD.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death
of his faithful ones.
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have
loosed my bonds.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will
call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the
presence of all his people.
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
Reading
II
Brothers
and sisters:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread, and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
Verse
Before the Gospel
I
give you a new commandment, says the Lord:
love one another as I have loved you.
Gospel
Before
the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come
to pass from this world to the Father.
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.
The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him
over.
So, during supper,
fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power
and that he had come from God and was returning to God,
he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
Simon Peter said to him,
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
Jesus said to him,
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
for he is
clean all over;
so you are clean, but not all.”
For he knew who would betray him;
for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040226-Supper.cfm\
Commentary on Exodus 12:1-8,11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Today’s
Scripture readings cover the whole sweep of what today’s feast means. The First
Reading is a description of the Jewish Passover Meal. It is a sacramental
re-enactment of the meal taken by the Israelites before their flight across the
Red Sea from Egypt—a flight from slavery to freedom and liberation.
This
annual commemoration could be called the ‘Eucharist’ of the Jews—except that
they celebrate it just once a year, and not weekly or even daily, as we do. It
is a sacred remembering of God’s great act to liberate them from slavery, and
it is the beginning of their long journey to the Promised Land. It is no
coincidence that it was precisely during the celebration of this meal that
Jesus instituted what we now call the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This is the
link between the Hebrew and Christian Covenants.
In
the Second Reading, Paul recalls what Jesus did during that Last Supper—that
Passover Meal:
Lord
Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given
thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in
remembrance of me.”
In
the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new
covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
These
actions were to be repeated by his followers in memory of the liberation
brought about for us through his suffering, death and resurrection.
Three
events are thus united into a new mystery:
- the Jewish Passover
and Paschal Meal;
- the whole Paschal
Mystery of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection;
- the linking of the
bread and wine and its communal eating with the death and resurrection of
Jesus.
There
is a new liberation, not just from physical slavery, but from every kind of
slavery, especially that of sin and evil. There is now a new Pasch and a new
Passover. There is a new Lamb—the Lamb of God. There is a new unleavened
bread—the Bread that is the Body of the Risen Lord. The blood of the lamb is
now replaced with the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus, who takes away the sin of the
world.
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Commentary on John 13:1-15
The
Gospel reading links all of what happened on that day with the concrete reality
of our lives. It says nothing about the Pasch or the Passover. It says nothing
about the Eucharist, or the Body and Blood of Jesus.
Instead
it speaks of Jesus, Lord and Master, getting down on his knees and washing the
feet of his disciples. It is this spirit of love and service of brothers and
sisters which is to be the outstanding characteristic of the Christian
disciple.
And
this is the true living out of the Eucharistic celebration. To have one without
the other is not to live the Gospel. And so the words of the Eucharist (“Do
this in memory of me”) are also echoed here by Jesus as he says:
…I
have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
To
not celebrate the Eucharist in community, and to not spend our energies in love
and service of each other, is to not live the Gospel. Our Christian living is a
seamless robe weaving together the gospel message, liturgy, and daily life and
interaction.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1065g/
Thursday,
April 2, 2026
Thursday of Holy Week: Evening Mass
of the Lord’s Supper
LECTIO
Initial
Prayer
“When
You speak, Lord, the nothingness beats in life: the dry bones become living persons,
the desert flourishes… When I get ready to pray, I feel dry, I do not know what
to say. Evidently, I am not in harmony with Your will, my lips are not in tune with
my heart, my heart does not make an effort to get in tune with yours. Renew my heart,
purify my lips so that I can speak with You as You want me to, so that I can speak
with others as You wish, so that I can speak with myself, with my interior world,
as You wish.” (L. Renna)
The
Reading of the Gospel - John 13: 1-15
Before
the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world
to the Father. He loved his own in the world, and he loved them to the end. The
devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So,
during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power
and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and
took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then
he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them
with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Master,
are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What
I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later." Peter
said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered him,
"Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me." Simon Peter
said to him, "Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well."
Jesus said to him, "Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet
washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all." For he knew
who would betray him; for this reason, he said, "Not all of you are clean."
So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at
table again, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher'
and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher,
have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a
model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."
Moments
of Prayerful Silence
In a loving listening, words are
not necessary, because silence also speaks and communicates love.
MEDITATIO
Preamble
to the Passover of Jesus
The passage
of the Gospel of today is inserted in a literary whole which includes chapters 13-17.
At the beginning we have the account of the Last Supper which Jesus shares with
His disciples, during which He fulfills the gesture of the washing of the feet (13:
1-30). Then Jesus interweaves a long dialogue of farewell with His disciples (13:
31 – 14: 31). Chapters 15-17 have the function to further deepen the previous discourse
of the Master. Immediately after this, Jesus is arrested (18:1-11). In any case,
these events narrated in 13: 17, 26 are joined in 13: 1 with the Passover of Jesus.
It is interesting to note this last annotation: from 12: 1 the Passover is no longer
called the Passover of the Jews, but of Jesus. From now on, it is He, the Lamb of
God who will liberate people from sin. The Passover of Jesus is one that aims to
liberate us: a new exodus which permits us to go from darkness to light (8: 12),
and which will bear life and feast in humanity (7: 37).
Jesus
is aware that He is about to conclude His journey toward the Father and,
therefore He is about to bring to an end His personal and definitive exodus. Such
a passage, going to the Father, takes place through the Cross, the central
moment in which Jesus will surrender His life for the good of all humanity.
It
is striking when the reader becomes aware how the Evangelist John knows how to present
the person of Jesus well, while He is aware of the last events of His life and therefore,
of His mission. So as to affirm that Jesus is not crushed or overcome by the events
which threaten His life, but that He is ready to give His life. Before, the Evangelist
has remarked that His hour had not arrived; but now in the account of the washing
of the feet He says that He is aware that His hour is close at hand. Such a conscience
is at the basis of the expression of John: “After having loved those who were His
in the world, He loved them to the end” (v. 1).
Love
for “His own,” for those who form the new community, has been evident while He was
with them, but it will shine in an eminent way in His death. Jesus shows such a
love in the gesture of the washing of the feet, which in its symbolical value shows
the continuous love which is expressed in service.
The
Washing of the Feet
Jesus
is at an ordinary supper with His disciples. He is fully conscious of the
mission which the Father has entrusted to Him: the salvation of humanity
depends on Him. With such an awareness He wishes to show “to His own,” through the
washing of the feet, how the work of salvation of the Father is fulfilled and to indicate in such a gesture the surrender
of His life for the salvation of all. It is the will of Jesus that we be saved,
and a longing desire leads Him to give up His life and to surrender. He is aware
that the Father gives Jesus complete freedom of action.
Besides,
Jesus knows that His true provenance and the goal of His itinerary is God; He knows
that His death on the Cross, the maximum expression of His love, is the last moment
of His journey of salvation. His death is an “exodus”; it is the climax of His victory
over death, in His surrender (giving His life) Jesus reveals to us the presence
of God as the fullness of life and exemption from death.
With
this full consciousness of His identity and of His complete liberty Jesus is
prepared to fulfill the great and humble gesture of the washing of the feet. Such
a gesture of love is described with a great number of verbs (eight) which render
the scene absorbing, enthralling and full of significance. The Evangelist, in
presenting the last action of Jesus toward His own, uses this rhetorical figure
of the accumulation of verbs without repeating himself in order that such a
gesture remains impressed in the heart and mind of His disciples and of every
reader and in order that a commandment may always be remembered, not forgotten.
The gesture fulfilled by Jesus intends to show that true love is expressed in tangible
actions of service. Jesus removes His garments and ties around His waist a towel
or apron, a symbol of service. He shows them that love is expressed in service,
in giving one’s life for others as He has done.
At
the time of Jesus, the washing of the feet was a gesture which expressed
hospitality and welcome towards the guests. In an ordinary way it was done by a
slave or also by the wife, and also the daughters toward their father. Besides,
it was the custom that such a rite of the washing of the feet should be done
before they sat at table and not during the meal. Such an insertion of Jesus’
action intends to stress or underline how singular or significant His gesture was.
And thus, Jesus gets down to wash the feet of His disciples. The repeated use of
the apron which Jesus tied around His waist underlines the attitude of service
which is a permanent attribute of the person of Jesus. In fact, when He finishes
the washing of the feet, Jesus does not take off the towel which He used as an
apron. Such a detail intends to underline that the service-love does not end with
His death. This minute detail shows the intention of the Evangelist to
underline the significance and importance of the gesture of Jesus. By washing
the feet of His disciples Jesus intends to show them His love, which is one with
that of the Father (10:30.38). This image with which Jesus reveals God is really
shocking: He is not a sovereign who resides exclusively in Heaven, but He presents
himself as the servant of humanity in order to raise it to the divine level. From
this divine service flows, for the community of believers, that liberty which comes
from the love which renders all its members as “lords” (free) because they are servants.
It is like saying that only liberty creates the true love. From now on, service
which the believers will render to others will have the purpose of restoring the
relationship among people in whom equality and liberty are a consequence of the
practice of reciprocal service. Jesus, with His gesture intends to show that
any domination over another is contrary to the attitude of God who, instead,
serves people to raise them to himself. The pretension of superiority of one
person over another no longer has any sense, because the community founded by Jesus does not have any pyramidal
characteristics, but horizontal dimensions, in which each one is at the service
of others, following the example of God and of Jesus.
In synthesis,
the gesture which Jesus fulfilled expresses the following values: the love
toward brothers and sisters demands expression in fraternal acceptance,
hospitality, and permanent service.
Peter’s
Resistance
The reaction
of Peter before the gesture of Jesus is expressed in attitudes of surprise and protest.
There is also a change in the way in which he related to Jesus: Peter calls Him
“Lord” (13: 6). In such a title Jesus is recognized as having a level of superiority
which is in conflict with the “washing” of the feet, an action which belongs, instead,
to an inferior subject. The protest is expressed energetically by the words: “Are
You going to wash my feet?” In Peter’s eyes this humiliating gesture of the washing
of the feet seemed to him as an inversion of values which regulate the relationship
between Jesus and others: the first one is the Master, Peter is a subject. Peter
disapproves the equality which Jesus wants to create among people.
To
such misunderstanding Jesus responds inviting Peter to accept the sense of
washing his feet as a witness of His love toward him. More precisely, He wants to
offer him a concrete proof of how He and the Father love him.
But Peter
in his reaction does not give in: he categorically refuses that Jesus should get
down at his feet. It is not acceptable that Jesus abandons His position of
superiority to render himself equal to His disciples. Such an idea of the Master
disorientates Peter and leads him to protest. Not accepting the service of love
of his Master, he neither accepts that He dies on the cross for him (12: 34; 13:
37). It seems to say that Peter is far away from understanding what is true love,
and such an obstacle is an impediment so that Jesus can show it to him by His
action.
In the
meantime, if Peter is not ready to share the dynamics of love which manifests itself
in reciprocal service he cannot share the friendship with Jesus and truly runs
the risk of excluding himself.
Following
the admonition of Jesus “If I do not wash you, you can have no share with Me” (v.
8), Peter adheres to the threatening words of the Master, but without accepting
the profound sense of the action of Jesus. He shows himself open, ready to let Jesus
wash his feet, not only the feet, but also his hands and head. It seems that it
is easier for Peter to accept Jesus’ gesture as an action of purification or
ablution rather than as a service. But Jesus responds that the disciples have become
pure (“clean”) at the moment when they accepted to allow themselves to be guided
by the Word of the Master, rejecting that of the world. Peter and the disciples
no longer need the Jewish rite of the purification but to allow themselves to have
their feet washed by Jesus; or rather to allow themselves to be loved by Him,
conferring them dignity and liberty.
The
Memorial of Love
At
the end of the washing of the feet Jesus intends to give His action a permanent
validity for His community and at the same time to leave to it a memorial or commandment which should always
regulate the fraternal relationships.
Jesus
is the Lord, not in domination, but in so far as He communicates the love of
the Father (His Spirit) which makes us children of God and qualified to imitate
Jesus who freely gives His love to His own. Jesus intended to communicate such
an interior attitude to His own, a love which does not exclude anyone, not even
Judas who is about to betray Him. Therefore, if the disciples call Him Lord, they
have to imitate Him; if they consider Him Master, they have to listen to Him.
Some
Questions to Meditate On
•
He got up from the table: How do you live the Eucharist? In a sedentary
way or do you allow yourself to be moved to action by the fire of the love
which you receive? Do you run the risk that the Eucharist in which you participate
is lost in contemplative Narcissism, without leading to the commitment of
solidarity and sharing?
•
He removed His outer garments: when you go from the Eucharist to
daily life, do you know how to remove the garments of your own benefit, your
calculations, personal interests to allow yourself to be guided by an authentic
love toward others?
•
Taking a towel He wrapped it around His waist: this is the image
of the “Church of the apron.” In the life of your family, of your ecclesial community,
do you walk on the street of service? Are you directly involved in the service
to the poor and to the least? Do you know how to see the face of Christ who
asks to be served and loved in the poor?
ORATIO
Psalm
116 (114-115), 12-13; 15-16; 17-18
The Psalmist
who finds himself in the time and in the presence of the liturgical assembly
sings his sacrifice of thanksgiving. Voltaire who had a special predilection for
v. 12 expressed himself as follows: “What can I offer to the Lord for all the
gifts which He has given me?”
What return can I make to Yahweh
for His generosity to me?
I shall take up the cup of
salvation and call on the name of Yahweh. Costly in Yahweh's sight is the death
of His faithful. I beg You, Yahweh! I am Your servant, I am Your servant and my
mother was Your servant; You have undone my fetters.
I shall offer You a sacrifice
of thanksgiving and call on the name of Yahweh.
I shall fulfill my vows to Yahweh,
witnessed by all His people
Final
Prayer
Fascinated
with the way in which God expressed His love toward His own, Origin prayed as
follows:
Jesus,
come, my feet are dirty.
Become
a servant for me, pour the water in the basin; come, wash my feet.
I know
it, what I am saying is daring, but I fear the threat of Your words: “If I do not
wash you, you can have no share with me.” Wash then my feet, so that I may have
a share with you. (Homily 5 on Isaiah)
And Saint
Ambrose having an ardent desire to correspond to the love of Jesus, expresses
himself as follows:
Oh, my
Lord Jesus, allow me to wash Your sacred feet;
You got
them dirty when You walked in my soul… But where will I take the
water
from the fountain to wash Your feet?
In lacking
that I only have the eyes to weep:
bathing
Your feet with my tears, do in such a way that I myself remain purified. (Treatise on Penance).
