Date: April 9, 2020 ()

Bible Text: First Reading: EX 12:1-8, 11-14; Gospel: JN 13:1-15 |

Series:

The Mass of the Lord’s Supper

On Holy Thursday, we commemorate the Lord’s Supper, the memorable evening when the Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist, the memorial of the Passover Meal that reminds generations upon generations of God’s people of the Salvation won for us by Lord Jesus through His Redemptive Sacrifice to the Cross.

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over…” What was given to him by the Lord was received by Paul as a gift - the gift of Eucharist and priesthood that are also handed over to us by the apostles. The Eucharist is not a human institution. God instituted it for us, and we celebrate it with utmost devotion and a sense of gratitude.

Perhaps, for most of us, it would be a first in our lifetime, that we could not be present in this celebration of the remembrance of our salvation on the very occasion when the Lord first celebrated it. I encourage every one of you to remember those times when our Christian ancestors also had no way to be present or perhaps had to be in hiding to celebrate Mass due to the threat of persecution. This is not a time of persecution though, but our hearts feel the same anguish as we are deprived of the opportunity to be present at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

A priest when I was in theology shared to us some touching moments of the experiences of the people deprived of the Eucharist due to the shortage of vocation to the priesthood. What the people had to do to sustain their devotion to the Eucharist was to gather around the altar; but since they could not have the Mass, they sufficed themselves with the symbolic presence of a priest by reserving an empty chair upon the sanctuary with a stole placed on it; then proceeded to celebrate the liturgy of the word and offer their prayers.

I think we also do almost the same in a modern way. We set an altar before our televisions and put ourselves into an atmosphere of prayer and watch the Mass while streamed online. How could we then take it for granted again that which used to be celebrated openly and generously? In the meantime, let us continue to cultivate our desire for the Eucharist. May this desire deepen our devotion and love for the Lord and the gift of Mass that He left for us as a precious treasure and testament.