HOLY THURSDAY - IN COMMUNION

 

Do this in remembrance of Me

John 13: 1-15

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040226-Supper.cfm

O God, who have called us to participate

in this most sacred Supper,

in which your Only Begotten Son,

whn avbout to hand himself over to death,

entrusted to the Church a sacrifice new for all eternity,

the banquet of his love, 

grant that we may draw from so great a mystery,

the fullness of charity and of life.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

(Collect of Mass)

Tonight we step into a sacred memory – but not just a memory. Holy Thursday is not simply about what Jesus did long ago.  It is about what He is still doing now: drawing us into communion.

Communion with himself.  Communion with one another. And communion with the entire living history of the Church.

At the Last Supper, Jesus does something astonishing.  He does not leave his disciples with a book, or a set of ideas, or even just a memory.  He gives them himself: “This is my Body . . . This is my Blood.”

This is not symbolic language meant to inspire.  This is a gift meant to unite. In the Eucharist, Jesus doesn’t merely visit us.  He joins himself to us.  His life becomes our life.  His strength becomes our strength.  His love begins to beat within us. That is communion at its deepest level: not just closeness, but participation.  We are drawn into Christ’s own life.

And from that communion with Christ flows a second communion with one another. Therefore, we might say that “communion” is not just a word or something we receive but an experience of the living God in our midst made possible by the Holy Eucharist.

Notice what Jesus does in the same evening: he kneels before his chosen brethren and washes feet in the shocking position of the lowest slave.  In Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth, the creator of the universe performed this shocking action to make an indelible point for his disciples and for us.  What will bind them together and what will make them become a sign of hope to the world will not be their words as much as their actions. 

The One, who is Lord, becomes the servant. The One who gives His Body also humbles His body.

This is not a separate lesson.  It is the shape of the Eucharist lived out.  If we receive the Body of Christ, we must become the Body of Christ.  If we are fed by his love, we must become that love for others.

We are not a “Jesus and me” Church. Communion is never private.  To be in communion with Christ means we are bound whether we like it or not to one another. In all our difficult moments, our loneliness, and our diverse opinions we are joined to one another in Christ.  Holy Thursday gently but firmly reminds us: you cannot receive Christ and refuse his Body.

Our third dimension we may often overlook is communion with Christian history. We are not alone in this Church tonight.  We are surrounded by every generation that has ever gathered at this table. 

The apostles in the upper room. The early Christians risking their lives in their homes, hiding from hostile authorities.  The martyrs of the Church and countless saints beyond them received this bread, this Christ, as we will and we stand this evening in communion with all of them.

When the priest speaks the words of Jesus tonight, we know that we face the eternal.  We do not carry our worries and burdens alone, but we do so with a vast communion of believers before and with us today. 

So, maybe three questions to ask this evening:  Am I open to true communion with Christ? Am I willing to surrender myself for him

Am I willing to live in communion with others even when difficult?

Do I recognize that I belong to something far greater than myself?

Jesus asks us: “Live in me, remain in me, be one with me, with each other, and with all those who have believed.”