Holy Thursday - Reflection

Catholics around the world meet this evening to celebrate a "memorial feast," a proclamation "of the death of the Lord until he comes," a model the Lord has given us "so that as I have done for you, you should also do." We place ourselves in the continuing remembrance of all that God has done for us and does for us and will continue to do for us until the end of time.  This is expressed in a shared meal of bread and wine which becomes the very person of Jesus as he gave himself for us.  The body and blood of Christ are the body and blood of the person who washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper to show us what this feast is meant to inspire.  The body and blood of Jesus would become the symbol of Christian faith as it hung upon the cross, as we will celebrate tomorrow on Good Friday.  The body and blood of Christ will rise from the dead to bring us Easter joy and hope as we will celebrate at the Easter Vigil and Sunday.

The past, the present, and the future are wrapped up in this feast of the first Eucharist and in all celebrations of the Eucharist since then.  Moses, Paul, and the Lord are inviting us to be present.  We RSVP with our lives.  Amen.