The evening Christ spent on Holy Thursday with His apostles, eating His last meal with them, has a threefold commemoration: the institution of the Eucharist, the institution of the priesthood, and the commandment to brotherly love.
These three gifts from Christ all have something in common. They all are ways for God to be present among us. They are in effect a new Passover.
What is it that Christ so desired to celebrate with His Apostles before He suffered His passion? It was the traditional Passover meal the Hebrew people ate to commemorate that day when God passed among their ancestors to lead them out of slavery in Egypt. Those who put the blood of a goat or sheep on their door posts received God's blessing and did not suffer the plague that all firstborn of the land will die. And so it was written "the blood will be a sign for you... When I see the blood, I will pass over you." And you will be saved. It was this last miracle of being preserved from the plague of the death of the firstborn that broke Pharaoh's hold on the Israelites and he let them go from the life of slavery into a life of grace.
Jesus so desired to eat this Passover with His Apostles because He would institute a new Passover, a Passover in which the blood would be His own, and it is in this blood that God will come among us and not just pass over but dwell among us and transform us. And so Jesus took bread and wine and gave us the Eucharist, so that by making them His body and blood we eat and drink of it so that we become one with Him. Jesus says "This is my body that is for you" and "this cup is the new covenant in my blood." Salvation then has come through the blood of the Lamb, who is Christ Jesus. The Eucharist then became the visible and effective sign "par excellence" of Jesus' divine presence and of the grace He wishes to bestow on each of us to transform us into His likeness.
Just as that Passover day became a day of remembrance for the Hebrew people, so too does Jesus ask of us "do this in remembrance of me," and thus He institutes for us the Priesthood. He confers upon his Apostles the gift to continue this Eucharist so that He can continue His presence among us. Giving leadership to Peter and the other apostles, He assures us that they are to teach what He taught, to be of service to the church and world defenders of the faith. This order that Christ confers on His Apostles has then been handed down through the generations to the priests of today. We still come together as a community and celebrate the mystery of Christ's love for us in the Eucharist offered through the hands of the priest. And it is for the priest to assure that we still learn the truth of our faith that has been given to us. This is done through the preaching and teaching the priest is mandated to do. But he must be sure not to preach his own words but that of Jesus Christ, that of the Church. Through the priesthood we are able to receive the 7 sacraments which bestow and assure God's blessing and presence in our lives; to encourage all the faithful to a life of prayer and holiness; to help each of us here answer the call of our baptism to live saintly lives; lives not centered on ourselves, but lives of service to our brethren.
And this brings in the third element, the commandment "So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example that you also should do as I have done to you." While the Eucharist and the sacraments are key moments of divine grace, of Jesus' presence in our midst, and the priesthood the way in which Jesus chose to manifest these sacraments for the Church, another way in which Christ becomes present in our world is through holiness of life. God calls each of us to dedicate ourselves to His Son, Jesus. To live like Christ in our world, for its sanctification. To do this we must begin, each of us with our self. Each individual is called to conversion, to let go of selfishness, sin and vice, and to put on Christ; to live a life of selflessness, virtue and prayer; to allow Christ to live within, that every action one takes is sanctified and made holy through Christ. This then becomes the true service to our neighbours, for if we put this into action, then we are truly living for God and for others, then we are truly seeing Jesus in the poor, then we are truly encountering Jesus in our midst. Then we are truly living the life of charity (godly love), then we are truly Living.
"I have come so that we may have life and life in abundance"
The world is suffering, and it is only in our participation in the life of Christ that we can transform the world into the vision God has planned for it.
God has given us a threefold Passover to show that He is present among us and in us: The Eucharist, the Priesthood, and the commandment to love as Christ loves, through service to others.
Jesus' whole life was an example to us on how we should live. His washing of the feet shows us that if we are to be great, then we must be humble enough to be a servant. Jesus, though divine, served us by giving His life. We too now, in the great tradition of the Church re-enact that moment, so that we may keep in our minds that to be great in the kingdom of God we are to be of humble service to our neighbour.
Written by Father Steven Otvos
