HOMILY SERIES: “The Eucharist on Holy Thursday: The Lord Thinking of You and Me”
March 28, 2024 at 11:02 a.m.
The following homily was prepared by Msgr. Thomas N. Gervasio for Holy Thursday. Msgr. Gervasio is vicar general of the Diocese of Trenton and pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton. This homily is eighth in a series of homilies with Eucharistic themes to be used in churches across the Diocese.
At the Last Supper, the mind of Our Lord might well have been completely absorbed by the prospect of what lay before him—betrayal, denial, abandonment, his suffering, and death. Yet amazingly, Our Lord was thinking of you and me. “Do this in memory of me,” he said, words that would be carried out through time from the Upper Room to the present. It was a command that unites the three extraordinary gifts that we receive on Holy Thursday.
When Our Lord said, “Do this in memory of me,” he instituted the Holy Priesthood. He was thinking of you and me in his desire to provide us with shepherds to guide and nourish us—to be his representatives on earth. We might well say that Holy Thursday was the Ordination Day of the apostles as the first priests of the Church. And what a group they were!
Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman reminds us that, they, like the priests who would follow them and like everyone else, were “not angels, not saints, not sinless.” They were earthen vessels, fragile, weak, fearful, and doubting; always in need of God’s grace and mercy but nevertheless entrusted to stand at the altar and act “in persona Christi” to be stewards and dispensers of the mysteries of God.
“God has not granted to angels the power with which he has invested priests,” said St. John Chrysostom. St. Jean Vianney boldly proclaimed that “the priest holds the key to the treasures of heaven.” My friends, on this feast day of the priesthood, let us pray that the Lord will sustain in every priest a grateful awareness of the awesome gift he has received.
When the Lord said, “Do this in memory of me,” he was pointing us to the second gift of this holy night—a gift intimately tied to the first—the Holy Eucharist. The Lord was thinking of you and me as he transformed the Passover table into the Christian altar from which Jesus, the Lamb without blemish would be received. He was thinking of you and me in his desire to bequeath us the gift of himself under the form of bread and wine.
We could ask with St. John Paul II, “What more could Jesus have done for us?” Of all the possible ways Our Lord could devise to remain close to us so that we might know his infinite love, he chose the Eucharist, “a solution so sensational that only God could have conceived it, so miraculous that only God could do it” (L. Trese, “Seventeen Steps to Heaven”).
The Holy Eucharist is not a symbol but the Real Presence of the Lord in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is not just something, but Someone. St. John Chrysostom described the Eucharist as “a gift which angels view with trepidation and which they cannot contemplate without fear because of its splendor.” On this holy night let us rouse ourselves from any casual, mechanical, or perfunctory attitude toward this splendid treasure the Lord has deigned to grant us.
The Eucharist, however, is not only a mystery to consecrate, to receive, to contemplate, and adore, but also a mystery to imitate, and the Lord shows this by wrapping a towel around his waist and becoming a humble servant to wash the feet of his disciples … the Creator kneeling before his creatures.
As he carried out that humble service, Jesus was thinking of you and me, in his desire to vividly show us that our life should be characterized by humility and service to our brothers and sisters. It is an attitude that flows from the Eucharist. He was showing us what a Eucharistic life looks like.
My friends, on this solemn night, Our Lord, in his infinite love was thinking of you and me, providing us with priests to serve as our shepherds and guides, by bestowing the gift of his very Self in the Holy Eucharist, and giving us the example to follow … the example of humble service which is the key to heaven’s door.
On this night he was thinking of you and me. What more could Jesus have done for us?
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The following homily was prepared by Msgr. Thomas N. Gervasio for Holy Thursday. Msgr. Gervasio is vicar general of the Diocese of Trenton and pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton. This homily is eighth in a series of homilies with Eucharistic themes to be used in churches across the Diocese.
At the Last Supper, the mind of Our Lord might well have been completely absorbed by the prospect of what lay before him—betrayal, denial, abandonment, his suffering, and death. Yet amazingly, Our Lord was thinking of you and me. “Do this in memory of me,” he said, words that would be carried out through time from the Upper Room to the present. It was a command that unites the three extraordinary gifts that we receive on Holy Thursday.
When Our Lord said, “Do this in memory of me,” he instituted the Holy Priesthood. He was thinking of you and me in his desire to provide us with shepherds to guide and nourish us—to be his representatives on earth. We might well say that Holy Thursday was the Ordination Day of the apostles as the first priests of the Church. And what a group they were!
Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman reminds us that, they, like the priests who would follow them and like everyone else, were “not angels, not saints, not sinless.” They were earthen vessels, fragile, weak, fearful, and doubting; always in need of God’s grace and mercy but nevertheless entrusted to stand at the altar and act “in persona Christi” to be stewards and dispensers of the mysteries of God.
“God has not granted to angels the power with which he has invested priests,” said St. John Chrysostom. St. Jean Vianney boldly proclaimed that “the priest holds the key to the treasures of heaven.” My friends, on this feast day of the priesthood, let us pray that the Lord will sustain in every priest a grateful awareness of the awesome gift he has received.
When the Lord said, “Do this in memory of me,” he was pointing us to the second gift of this holy night—a gift intimately tied to the first—the Holy Eucharist. The Lord was thinking of you and me as he transformed the Passover table into the Christian altar from which Jesus, the Lamb without blemish would be received. He was thinking of you and me in his desire to bequeath us the gift of himself under the form of bread and wine.
We could ask with St. John Paul II, “What more could Jesus have done for us?” Of all the possible ways Our Lord could devise to remain close to us so that we might know his infinite love, he chose the Eucharist, “a solution so sensational that only God could have conceived it, so miraculous that only God could do it” (L. Trese, “Seventeen Steps to Heaven”).
The Holy Eucharist is not a symbol but the Real Presence of the Lord in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is not just something, but Someone. St. John Chrysostom described the Eucharist as “a gift which angels view with trepidation and which they cannot contemplate without fear because of its splendor.” On this holy night let us rouse ourselves from any casual, mechanical, or perfunctory attitude toward this splendid treasure the Lord has deigned to grant us.
The Eucharist, however, is not only a mystery to consecrate, to receive, to contemplate, and adore, but also a mystery to imitate, and the Lord shows this by wrapping a towel around his waist and becoming a humble servant to wash the feet of his disciples … the Creator kneeling before his creatures.
As he carried out that humble service, Jesus was thinking of you and me, in his desire to vividly show us that our life should be characterized by humility and service to our brothers and sisters. It is an attitude that flows from the Eucharist. He was showing us what a Eucharistic life looks like.
My friends, on this solemn night, Our Lord, in his infinite love was thinking of you and me, providing us with priests to serve as our shepherds and guides, by bestowing the gift of his very Self in the Holy Eucharist, and giving us the example to follow … the example of humble service which is the key to heaven’s door.
On this night he was thinking of you and me. What more could Jesus have done for us?