April 17, 2025
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/041725-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 between Gospel, liturgy and
daily life and interaction.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1065g/
Thursday,
April 17, 2025
Holy
Thursday 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
do it, 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
1 Before the festival of
the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to
the Father, having loved those who were his in the world, loved them to the
end. 2 They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of
Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had
put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning
to God, 4 and he got up from table, removed his outer garments and, taking a
towel, wrapped it round his waist; 5 he then poured water into a basin and
began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel he was
wearing. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'Lord, are you going to
wash my feet?' 7 Jesus answered, 'At the moment you do not know what I am
doing, but later you will understand.' 8 'Never!' said Peter. 'You shall never
wash my feet.' Jesus replied, 'If I do not wash you, you can have no share with
me.' Simon Peter said, 9 'Well then, Lord, not only my feet, but my hands and
my head as well!' 10 Jesus said, 'No one who has had a bath needs washing, such
a person is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.' 11
He knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said, 'though not all
of you are.' 12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments
again he went back to the table. 'Do you understand', he said, 'what I have
done to you? 13 You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. 14
If I, then, the Lord and
Master, have washed your feet, you must wash each other's feet. 15 I have given
you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.
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 fulfils 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 deepen further 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 already 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 man from sin. The Passover
of Jesus is one that aims to liberate man: a new exodus which permits 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 man.
It strikes the reader when he 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 man. It is the
will of Jesus that man 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
fulfil 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 despoils himself of his garments and ties
around his waist a towel or apron, symbol of service. More precisely, Jesus
takes off his garments is an expression which expresses the significance of the
gift of life. Which is the teaching which Jesus transmits to his disciples
through this gesture? 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,
concerning 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 will have finished 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
wish 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 man will have as its purpose
that of restoring the relationship among men in whom equality and liberty are a
consequence of the practice of reciprocal service. Jesus, with his gesture
intends to show that any domination o tentative to prevail over man is contrary
to the attitude of God who, instead, serves man to raise him to himself.
Besides, the pretensions of superiority of one man over another, no longer have
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 the
brothers demands to be expressed in fraternal acceptance, hospitality, that is,
in 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 men: the first one is the Master, Peter is a
subject. Peter disapproves the equality which Jesus wants to create among men.
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. According to
Peter each one should carry out his own role, it is not possible to have a
community or a society based on equality. 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 is as 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 runs the risk, truly, to exclude 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 the dimension of 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? Your commitment in favor of
justice, of the poor, does it come from the habit of encountering Christ in the
Eucharist, from the familiarity with him?
•
He removed his outer garments: when from the
Eucharist you go 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? Or rather, after the Eucharist you
are not capable of removing your garments of domination and of arrogance to put
on those of simplicity, of poverty?
•
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, of sharing? 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, 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 fulfil 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).
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