ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends,

Here in this Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul we are celebrating the second Mass of Holy Thursday. It is called the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

Earlier this morning we celebrated the Chrism Mass. It was a magnificent assembly of priests and people, including a number of young people. During the Mass, I blessed the holy oils for the catechumens and the sick, and I consecrated the sacred Chrism, which is used in anointing those who are baptized, confirmed and ordained to the priesthood.

In the homily at that Mass I spoke about the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ, its relation to the Eucharist, and how important it is in the Church. I expressed our gratitude and support for the lives and ministry of our priests. All of our priests, in the presence of God’s people, renewed their commitment to sacred celibacy and faithful service.

This evening the texts of Sacred Scripture immerse us in the mystery of the Eucharist. To understand the liturgy that we are celebrating we must speak about the Eucharist itself, about the priesthood, without which the Eucharist cannot exist, and about Christ’s commandment of love and service. Jesus says: “I give you a new commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.”

Today is the anniversary of the institution of the Eucharist. It is also the anniversary of the institution of the priesthood. The two sacraments go together. There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood. The priesthood exists to make the Eucharist possible.

The Gospel of Saint John that we proclaimed this evening takes us to the Last Supper. Actually Saint John does not speak about the Eucharist. The other three evangelists—Matthew, Mark and Luke—describe its institution. Saint Paul does so also. Saint John, on the other hand, presumes it and goes on to speak about Christ’s attitude of love and service, which was the reason Christ instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood.

These then are the three elements that make up our Holy Thursday reflection: 1) the gift of the Eucharist, 2) the gift of the priesthood and 3) Christ’s love for us manifested in washing the feet of His apostles in humble service.

The institution of the Eucharist is beautifully described for us by Saint Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians. This Letter was written only about twenty years after the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. This is the first account of what took place at the Last Supper. It precedes the other accounts written by Matthew, Mark and Luke.

The words that Saint Paul records are the basic formula that we hear pronounced in every Eucharist: “This is my body which will be given up for you.” “This is the cup of my blood…. It will be shed for you….” And finally: “Do this in memory of me.”

Christ’s command—“Do this in memory of me”—links the Eucharist and the priesthood. The Church teaches that the Apostles whom Jesus had chosen to celebrate the Eucharist passed on this power to their successors in the priesthood. And so tonight the command of Christ is once more fulfilled: “Do this in memory of me.”

But what is it that we are doing in memory of Christ?

The Church evokes the memory of Christ’s Last Supper, but she does this in a sacramental way. She makes this Supper sacramentally present for us.

We know also that this Last Supper was the proclamation—as Saint Paul says—of the Death of the Lord. The Last Supper was also the anticipation of the Sacrifice that Christ would consummate on Good Friday by His Death on the Cross, and that the Father would ratify by raising Him from the dead.

And so the Church teaches that each Eucharistic celebration, each Mass, is the sacramental re-enactment of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Our Eucharist tonight brings us into contact with the Redemption that Jesus accomplished by His Paschal Mystery.

The Eucharist re-presents sacramentally the Last Supper. It re-presents the Sacrifice of Calvary. It makes actual in our lives the whole liberating action that Jesus accomplished by his Death and Resurrection.

Holy Thursday for us, then, means the Mass and the priest who celebrates every Mass: our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Holy Thursday also means the love that motivated Jesus to gather His Apostles together at the Last Supper and to die for them, and for all of us, on Good Friday.

Finally Holy Thursday means for us the challenge to follow Jesus in the loving service that He performs for His apostles by washing their feet. Jesus was willing to serve others generously. He was willing to give His life in sacrifice for the redemption of the world.

Tonight Jesus gives us the privilege of joining in the celebration of His Eucharist, which is both Sacrifice and Supper. But He also challenges us to embrace His sentiments, to take on His attitude, to love one another as He has loved us, to be willing to surrender ourselves in service to one another.

“Do you realize what I have done for you?”—Jesus says to us. “You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.”

Tonight His final words to us are these: “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Dear friends: this too is Holy Thursday: a new way of loving, giving and serving; a new way to be a family, to be a community, to be the Church; a new way to be a spouse, a parent, a son or daughter, a priest, deacon, religious or seminarian, a dedicated single person; a new way to live the life of Jesus and to follow Him to His Death and Resurrection. Amen.