Today, with the celebration
of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we begin the Easter or Sacred Triduum (Triduum Sacrum), that is, the
three-part drama of Christ's redemption: Passion, Death (that begun on Holy
Thursday, continued on Good Friday) and the Resurrection (on Holy Saturday
Easter Vigil).
Holy Thursday is also known
as “Maundy Thursday”.The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum (commandment), which is the first word of the Gospel
acclamation according to St. John: “Mandátum novum do vobis dicit Dóminus, ut
diligátis ínvicem, sicut diléxi vos”. (I give you a new commandment:
Love one another as I have loved you. -- John 13:34). “Maundy Thursday”,
therefore, is the true day of love (not February 14) because today, our Lord
reminds us to love one another regardless of race, gender, political opinion or
religion.
Today also, we recall the
last actions of Jesus before He was arrested, condemned, crucified and died on
the cross. These actions can be summarized as follows: (1) the eating of the Jewish
paschal meal that commemorates the Passover; (2) the washing of the disciple’s
feet; (3) the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist (the first Mass at which
Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest, is the presider; the first Communion of
the apostles; the conferring of Holy Orders); (4) the foretelling of Judas’
betrayal and Peter’s denials; (5) the farewell discourse and priestly prayer of
Jesus; and lastly, (6) the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Olives. All these
events become sacramentally present in this Eucharistic celebration of Holy Thursday,
the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
But I wish only to highlight
one very important action of Jesus during that Last Supper: the institution of
the Holy Eucharist. It is a very important action because the Holy Eucharist is
“the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC, 1324).
By “source”, we mean that all
the strength we need, whether spiritual or bodily, in order to face our daily
struggles, our joys and hopes, our grief and anxieties, come from our Lord
Jesus who is sacramentally and really present in the Holy Eucharist, in His
Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.
By “summit”, we mean that the
Holy Eucharist is “the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world
in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father
in the Holy Spirit” (CCC, 1325). Whenever we participate in the Mass, “we
already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life”
(CCC, 1326). We have a foretaste of heaven! Hence, we can imagine ourselves to
be in heaven right now.
But to be in heaven is not
automatic – that you just attend Mass and puff! – you’re in heaven! Heaven is
where Jesus is present. In the Eucharist, Jesus is present. But the Eucharist
must not be confined only in the church building. The Holy Eucharist, the
presence of Jesus, must continue to subsist in the hearts of each of us, in our
lives, in our family, in our work, in our entertainment.
The concluding words of the
Mass, “The Mass has ended. Go in peace” are originally rendered in Latin “Ite, missa est finita” or “Ite, missa est” (the shorter version).
However, it does not simply declare that the Mass has ended or that the sacrifice
has been accomplished. It also contains an exhortation to make your life a
Mass.
The Latin “missa” also shares the same root as the
word “missio” or mission. Hence, when
the priest says “Ite, missa est”, it
also means, “Go, you are sent to a mission”. And what is that mission? To make your life a Eucharist. Just how
do we accomplish this mission of making our life Eucharistic? Let us go to the
Eucharistic acts of Jesus at the Last Supper.
“For on the night He was betrayed, He Himself took bread, and, giving you thanks, He said the blessing, broke the bread and gave
it to His disciples…” (Eucharistic Prayer III). Four action words emerge from this text
from the Eucharistic Prayer: take,
bless, break, give. A Eucharistic life is taken, blessed, broken and given.
TAKEN. Jesus, one time, assured His disciples: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to
go and bear fruit that will remain” (Jn 15: 16). In our baptism, Jesus has
chosen and taken us from among the many peoples in the world. Our Catholic
faith is a pure gift, free initiative of our Lord. His words to the Prophet
Jeremiah is a concrete proof to this: “Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jer
1: 15).
Thank God for having set you
apart from among the peoples in the world today as His followers. Be grateful
always for the gift of faith. This faith makes it possible for you to enter
into communion with God and live a divine life. In the Holy Eucharist, we are
divinized because we commune with God Himself!
BLESSED. Jesus does not just choose you and take you because you are the
best among the rest, the cream of the crop. He loves you for who you are, not
for what you have. As proven in God’s action in the history of Israel, God does
not choose the qualified; He qualifies the chosen, that is, He fills with His
blessings those whom He set apart. How does the Lord bless your life?
Recall the blessings you have
received from the Lord in the past years. Do not focus so much your attention
on the blessings your neighbor received. It will make you envious. Focus on
your blessings. Then, fill your heart with gratitude. Only a grateful heart can
truly be happy. Happiness is not what makes us grateful. Gratefulness is what
makes us happy.
Your greatest blessing is the
gift of your person. However, the gift of persons is not there only to thank
for: it is also there to be shared. But before your person can be shared, the
Lord allows it to be broken first.
BROKEN. Our own brokenness is not always a tragedy, in the same way that
the Lord’s crucifixion is not a tragedy, although at first, it appears to be
so. Sometimes, the Lord allows that we may be shattered into pieces, if only to
break our ego and self-centeredness. Only when we are broken do we realize how
we need God and totally depend on Him alone. Then, we learn how to trust more
in God, and less in us!
God said through the Prophet
Jeremiah: “Can I not do with you, Israel,
as this potter does?... Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my
hand, Israel” (Jer 18: 6). Each of us is also like clay in the potter’s
hands. In the hands of God, we may be broken into pieces only to be shaped
again according to God’s design. In this state, two things are most important: that we remain malleable in order to be
shaped easily; and that we remain in God’s hands, the hands of the potter.
SHARED. After we have been broken and shaped according to the heart of the
Divine Master, we can now be shared to others. For the blessing of our person –
taken, blessed and broken – is not only a GIFT but also a RESPONSIBILITY: the
greater the gift, the greater the responsibility! It must be shared.
We are not created for our
own consumption. As St. John Paul II said, “Man cannot fully find himself,
except through a sincere gift of himself.” The talent, time and treasure you
spent in the service of others do not diminish your person and possession.
Rather, the sharing completes you. It completes the Eucharistic life in you!
Taken, Blessed, Broken,
Shared. This Eucharistic cycle is what makes our life truly a living Eucharist.
Have you heard of the story of a kamote
tops (sweet potato), a goat and a man?
Once a kamote tops saw a
goat and admired how a goat can go anywhere. It told the goat, “I want to be
like you…” The goat said, “If you want to be like me, I have to eat you so that
you will converted into me and where I am, you also may be”. So, the kamote tops agreed and puff, it was
eaten by the goat.
The goat saw a man and wondered what it would be like to be human
being. The goat said to the man, “I want to be like you…” The man said, “If you
want to be like me, I have to eat you so that you will be converted into me and
where I am, you also may be”. So, the goat became a caldereta”.
And one day, man was praying inside the OLPH
Church. He told God, “God, I want to be like you…” And God said, “If you want
to be like me, YOU HAVE TO EAT ME, SO THAT YOU WILL CONVERTED INTO ME AND
WHEREVER YOU ARE, I AM THERE ALSO”. And so man took the Holy Communion. And
since then, his life becomes Eucharistic.
Brothers and sisters, do you
want to be like God? Strive to make your
life a Eucharistic life! AMEN.
