The Gift of Love and The Example to Love

Posted on:June 6th, 2016

HOMILY FOR HOLY THURSDAY (EVENING MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER) YEAR C.

SCRIPTURE READING:
Ex. 12:1-8.11-14
Ps. 116:12-13.15.16bc.17-18. (R. 1 Cor. 10:16).
1 Cor. 11:23-26; Accl; Jn 13:34.
Gospel Jn 13:1-15

Preamble:

Dear friends please repeat these words after me;
Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my mind, may your word never depart from me.
Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my ears, help me listen and obey your voice.
Stay with me Lord Jesus, as I give you my heart, help me welcome you always.
Holy Spirit, rekindle in me the fire of your love. Amen.

Beloved in Christ, earlier today at the Holy Cross Cathedral Lagos the Mass of Chrism was celebrated by the Archbishop of Lagos together with about 353 con-celebrating priests.

 

The Chrism Mass expresses above all else the unity between priests and their bishops as collaborators in the vine yard of the Lord. Priests also renew their commitment and obedience to the Archbishop which is the visible expression of this unity that exists amongst them firstly to him as the shepherd and secondly as collaborators working in the vine yard of the Lord and thirdly for the good of the people of God.

Today we also celebrate the birthday of the priesthood for priests are the dispensers of the mysteries of God. The priesthood is closely linked to the institution of the Holy Eucharist which the Lord instituted the night before he entered into his passion. Both are connected such that you cannot talk of the Eucharist without the priest and the priest without the Eucharist.

 

The priest who is called “alter Christus” meaning “another Christ” has the sacramental power to turn the bread and wine into the body of Christ. The priest is first and foremost a man called to sacred duties and called to be a perfect imitator of Christ- one who is charged with the responsibility to serve his fellow men and women, to reaffirm and strengthen them in. Heb. 5:1-5.

Beloved in Christ, the priesthood is a “state of being and not a function.” It is “an Identity and not a Robe.” It is a “call, a vocation and not a profession.” And so we must always rise to the occasion of rallying round our priests to encourage and support them for it is a huge responsibility laid upon their shoulders.

For the priest is marked with special character such that the “Spirit of the Lord” works through him, in him and with him with regards to the anointing he has received and commissions him for a special task since his job is sacramental he is empowered by the spirit of the Lord for it is that same spirit that hovered above the waters at creation that is upon the priest.

It is that same spirit that fell on the 70 elders whom the lord commanded Moses to come along with up to Mount Sinai that is upon the priest.
It is that same spirit that fell on the young Daniel to proclaim liberty to Susana that is also upon the priest.
It is that same spirit that walked with Shedrack, Meshach and Abednego in the fire and also gave them the confidence to confront Nebuchadnezzar’s authority of bowing to a moulded statue of himself that is upon the priest to speak in the name of the Lord and fear no evil.
It is that same Spirit that fell upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost which enabled them to cast out every form of fear and went out to proclaim the good news that is also upon the priest. Beloved we need to pray and encourage our priests for the job is an enormous one.

Also at the Mass of Chrism the Sacred oils used at various liturgical celebrations were blessed namely the Oil of Catechumenate which is applied on the chest and hands laid upon the catechumen with a prayer of exorcism frees the catechumen from the power of evil and disposes him for the life of grace.

The Holy Oil of Chrism-this oil configures the Catechumen to Christ and makes him/her participate in the three offices of Jesus Christ-priestly, kingly, and prophetic office. The Holy Oil is used at baptism, confirmation, and ordination of priests, consecrating bishops, and kings, dedication of altars, shrines, churches and chapels/oratories.

The Oil of the Sick is used in anointing those who are sick. In order words it is called viaticum as the last sacrament the sick receives before passing unto eternity and received to strengthen the sick. Over and above else these oils are administered to those who have received the sacraments of baptism.

On Holy Saturday night our catechumens would be baptized-these oils with the exception of the oil of the sick would be applied upon them and they are free to send for the priest to come to them when they are sick.

Haven said these; let us now focus our attention on today’s liturgy which is a threefold celebration namely-the liturgy of the word, the washing of feet, and the liturgy of the Holy Eucharist and then the adoration. The individual parts of today’s liturgy are rich in meaning which opens the door of the Easter Triduum.
The fourth gospel presents us with two great elements to our understanding of Jesus’ final evening with his disciples before his passion.

 

First John tells us that Jesus administered the menial service of washing the disciples’ feet. In this context, he also recounts the prophecies of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial. The second element consists of Jesus’ farewell discourse, reaching its end in the high-priestly prayer.

John 13:1 says “now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” With the last supper, Jesus’ “hour” arrived, the goal to which his ministry has been directed from the beginning (John 2:4).

 

The essence of this hour is described by John with two key words: it is the hour of his “departing,” “it is the hour of the love that reaches to the end (agape).”

The two concepts shed light on one another and are inseparable. Love is the very process of passing over, of transformation, of stepping outside the limitations of fallen humanity-in which we are all separated from one another and ultimately impenetrable to one another-into an infinite otherness. “Love to the end” is what brings about the seemingly impossible departure: stepping outside the limits of one’s closed individuality, which is what agape is-breaking through into the divine.

 

The hour of Jesus is the hour of the greatest stepping-beyond, the hour of transformation, and this departure of being is brought about through agape. It is agape to the end-and here John anticipates the final word of the dying Jesus: “tetelestai”-meaning it is finished (John 19:30).

 

Jesus’ going out, implies that creation is not a fall, but a positive act of God’s will. It is a movement of love, which in the process of descending demonstrates its nature-motivated by love for the creature, love for the lost sheep-and so in descending it reveals what God is really like. On returning, Jesus does not strip away his humanity again as if it were a source of impurity. The goal of his descent was the adoption and assumption of all mankind and his homecoming with all men is the homecoming of all flesh.

 

Even when his own did not accept him (as John 1:11 tells us), we hear in John 13:1 that he loves his own to the end. In descending he has reassembled his own-the great family of God-from strangers he has made them his own.

 

The gesture of Jesus as he rose from supper, laid aside his garments and tied a towel around himself, poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and wipe them with the towel that was tied around him was a gesture of servant-leader service-Jesus performs for his disciples the service of a slave, he emptied himself as Phil 2:7 tells us. With this singular act, Jesus captures the whole of his saving ministry in one symbolic act. He divests himself of his divine splendor; he, as it were, kneels down before us; he washes and dries our soiled feet, in order to make us fit to sit at table for God’s wedding.

 

The act is also connected to what the Book of Revelation 7:14 tells us about the redeemed who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The meaning is that Jesus’ love is to end and that is what cleanses us, washes us and makes us fit to sit at table with him.

 

Thus the fitting place where we encounter the Lord anew becomes Holy Eucharist for each time we come before him having washed us in the waters of baptism and purified by the sacraments of reconciliation, we are made fit to partake in the heavenly meal. The Eucharist becomes for us a place of encounter-a place God meets us as we are, purifies us and takes us into himself and we become one with him, become as he is and filled with the grace to forge ahead in our struggles and become joy-filled Christians capable of transforming the world.

 

The gesture of washing feet expresses precisely this: it is the servant-love of Jesus that draws us out of our pride and makes us fit for God, makes us “clean.”
In the gospel of John chapter 13, Jesus says to his disciples after washing their feet-“you are clean.” The gift of purity is an act of God. Man cannot make himself fit for God, whatever systems of purification he may follow.

 

The statement “you are clean” captures again for us the whole mystery of Christ. It is the God who comes down to us who makes us clean. Purity is a gift and that is what the Holy Father-Pope Francis calls the church to believe and to take due advantage of in this year of mercy. The central focus of the year of mercy is that the Lord is merciful, the readiness of God to cleanse, forgive us and make us fit for his kingdom which is captured in the saving mission of his son. God is still changing life, he is the source of our strength, our hope and life.

 

Furthermore in John 13:14-15- Jesus says: “if I, then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”

 

The command to do as Jesus did is an invitation into the saving ministry of Jesus. For he says in John 14:12 “he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the father” by this words since we are invited, Jesus’ action becomes our action because he is acting in us.

This then becomes a new commandment- the essence of Christianity for it requires moving beyond the earlier commandment to love one’s neighbor to “love as I have loved you,” in order words, loving to the point of readiness to lay down one’s life for the other.

 

The question is how many of us has truly lived up to this new demand that Christ gives us such that he/she leaves behind for the rest of us that self-evident, so to speak and now to walk along the exalted paths of the “new law?”

Beloved, this newness can only come to birth in us from the gift of being-with and being-in Christ. This requires purity of heart which stands in connection again with the washing of the feet. It is only by letting ourselves be repeatedly cleansed, “made pure,” by the Lord himself can we learn to act as he did, in union with him. This is exemplified in the lives of the saints because they constantly toed the path of been washed by Christ.

It requires a movement from the selfish “I” syndrome in the “I” of Christ which Saint Paul in Gal. 2:20 speaks of –that of been absorbed in Christ.

 

Hence he says “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” It means allowing ourselves be immersed in the Lord’s mercy, allowing our hearts to be immersed in his mercy; then and only then can we discover the right path to follow-the path of selflessness, the path of humility, the path of patience, the path of loving to the very end.

Beloved in Christ, the new commandment now becomes an involvement with Christ who washed the feet of his disciples and we can also do same to our brothers and sisters not necessarily washing their feet but offering a shoulder to lean on in time of trouble, offering your eye patiently to listen to the cries of your brothers and sisters, assisting and caring for the aged, sick and less privilege. It requires following the spiritual works of mercy to the latter ()

St. Thomas Aquinas observed that-“the new law is the grace of the Holy Spirit” it is not a new norm but the new interiority granted by the Spirit of God himself.

This spiritual experience of the truly new element in Christianity St. Augustine expressed in the famous formula “give what you command and command what you will.”

The gift becomes an example, while always remaining a gift. To be a Christian is primarily a gift, which then unfolds in the dynamic of living and acting in and around the gift.

This gift of Christ is also giving to us in the Eucharist which has become our rallying point-our source and summit. It is the commandment received by the Lord on the evening of his last supper “…this is my body which is for you…do this in remembrance of me.” 

 

In the same way also he took the chalice, after supper, saying, “This chalice 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 chalice, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” That is what the second reading taken from 1 Cor. 11:23-26 which is also found in the Gospel of Matthew 26:26-28 tells us.

This commandment of the Lord to his Apostles conferred upon them first to be the ministers of this sacrament which he instituted on the night of his last supper with his disciples-Thus the birth of the priesthood. That is, the priesthood of the new covenant.

 

The night of the Lord’s supper recalls the Passover meal which the Jews ate in a haste in honour of what God did for them as our first reading taken from the book of Exodus 12:1-8.11-14tells us. It is a meal that recalls to them and generations to come of what took place in Egypt of how the Lord saved the nation Israel from the angel of destruction with the blood of an innocent Lamb which was placed on the lintel of their homes.

That gesture which the Jews performed on the night of their Exodus was a prefigurement of what would later be the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary as the innocent Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world which he did whole and entirely as an offering acceptable to God on behalf of humankind on the cross. But before he had to die, there had to be also a meal that would remind the apostles and generations to come of what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross.

 

Thus, it was an institution of the Holy Eucharist. That each time they carried that instruction out, they proclaimed the Lord’s death until he comes.
This sacrament which is called the Holy Eucharist is a sacrament of thanksgiving to God for what Jesus did on that faithful day.
This sacrament has been given also to take away from us disgrace and shame and to bestow on us the life which God has promised us all.
The Eucharist again is an evidence of God’s total love for man. A love that made him lay down his life as the only begotten Son of God in order to redeem the world.

 

In the Eucharist God is waiting for us, here we talk about Eucharistic adoration which is a continuation of the living presence of the Lord. We must not lose sight of his presence due to the distractions of our time but that we become able to focus on him so that we may gain strength and that renewal which he offers us.

 

Beloved there is no one who exposes himself or herself daily that remains the same. Something new happens to us-we must not miss this new experience. Let us take due advantage of his presence so that we may be renewed and made fit for his service. May we draw strength from the Lord always to approach his presence with that blessed assurance that he is willing to help us overcome our weaknesses, failures, and make us strong to do his will always.

 

Finally may we say the Anima Christi together…
Anima Christi
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within thy wounds hide me.
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee.
From the malignant enemy, defend me.
In the hour of my death, call me.
And bid me come to Thee.
That with thy saints I may praise Thee. Amen.
Most sacred heart of Jesus……Have Mercy on Us (2ce)
Immaculate Heart of Mary……Pray for us.