Holy Thursday: Eucharist and service are inextricably linked
The Coronavirus exposes all the trivialities we have surrounded ourselves with and which we previously had the illusion of needing to live. The most essential need is eating. Holy Thursday, the day on which Jesus instituted the Eucharist, has no other purpose than to bring us back to the essential. (Guy Delage, SJ)
Saint Paul wrote to the Christians of Corinth:
I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
And then, the essential is
also in what follows the meal, once we have gained strength: to serve. On Holy
Thursday, the gospel does not focus on the institution of the Eucharist itself,
but rather on the narrative of the washing of the feet in John’s gospel. This
symbolic gesture is only the other side of the Eucharist, which is a gift, a
free service, a sign of perfect love that carries the others, loving them ‘to
the end’. Jesus becomes a servant and reveals to us his model of leadership: to
be attentive to what is lacking, to be available, to be stripped down and to be
prompt for serving. (Norbert Kabukapua, SJ)
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