Holy Thursday Reflection

“We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered.” This is the entrance antiphon for the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper for which we will gather this evening. This passage marks the beginning of the Sacred Triduum, three days in one, in which we reflect on the sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus. This passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians expresses the ultimate focus, the meaning, of the Triduum in which our salvation is assured.
 
This evening we will celebrate the wondrous mystery of the institution of the Holy Eucharist and may choose to experience the washing of the feet, Jesus’ merciful act at the Last Supper. The Last Supper was the most intimate moment in the life of Jesus. At the conclusion of the washing of the feet Jesus says to his humbled and confused followers: “I have given you a model to follow: so that as I have done to you, you should also do.”

Yes, in this act Jesus has given US a model for what WE should also do.
I would like to invite you during the Triduum this year to reflection on the mercy of Jesus which is evident in so many aspects of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. The word “mercy” comes from the latin misericordia meaning “heart FOR misery.”  Jesus certainly had a heart of mercy, when he washed the feet of the apostles especially for Judas and for Peter. Jesus had a heart of mercy for the faithful women of Jerusalem who were witnessing his Way of the Cross. Jesus had a heart of mercy for the penitent sinner being crucified with him on Calvary. Jesus had a heart of mercy, for Mary, Peter, John and the other apostles who were trying to figure out about his rising from the dead. These are but a few examples of how Jesus showed a heart FOR misery, a heart OF mercy, along the way to winning our salvation.

Our contemporary model of Mercy is Pope Francis, of course. Last Holy Thursday he celebrated the Eucharist at Regina Caeli prison in Rome. He washed the feet of 12 prisoners and told them to remember that Jesus constantly stands before them with love, ready to cleanse their sins and forgive them.
 
So as we embark on the Triduum this evening I would like to suggest that this year you look at Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection through the lens of the quality of mercy, mercy which has a heart for misery, a heart that rises above one’s own pain and enters the suffering heart of others, in imitation of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

For Jesus says, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”