Holy (Maundy) Thursday: The day of the gifts of Presence.
As sister Moon rises this evening the Easter Triduum begins... The three days that are "One Great Day"...one continuous action of Divine Love...
We begin with the day of the gifts:
Three parting gifts are given by the Lord to His followers today and each of them are usually celebrated in our evening Mass of the Lord's Supper. Each of them is a way of meeting the Lord's real presence and each a sign of love and a transforming grace that when met changes the person and invites them into a deeper communion of Love with God in the other person. While this year our celebrations are constrained and even absent in many places due to the virus we are still, wherever we are, in the presence of Love; the presence of God and in our caring for each other by staying apart in these days, even though it breaks our hearts to do so, we can be sure we are fulfilling the great commandment of love...
What are these gifts we celebrate today?
They are the gift of the Holy Eucharist, the gift of the Sacramental Priesthood and the gift of the New Commandment of Love (Mandatum Novum), from which the day takes its name.
In the Commandment of Love the old law is fulfilled, completed and superseded and the operating philosophy, theology and methodology of the Church is given. Our God is the One who bows low and serves His people; loving them back into wholeness... The example He gives we are to follow. We have no part with Christ if we do not bow low too and find the Divine Presence in each other. In the taking off of the outer garment He removes all that would separate us from Himself, in the wearing of the apron He becomes the servant and the lamb, in the washing of the feet He prepares us for the journey into the depths of Love...
In the Sacramental Priesthood He establishes an eternal conduit of sacrificial grace in which the eternal salvific events about to unfold may be touched in time by each succeeding generation. In the emptying of self that the priest is called to, especially in the sacramental moment, He is present and His people touch His power and love and mercy. His priesthood is a servant, sacrificial priesthood and His priests are called to follow the lamb to the altar and to calvary...
In the Holy Eucharist He gives Love's greatest gift; Love itself remains incarnate and eternal with His people for all time. In this unspeakabale and awe inspiring gift of Divine generosity He demonstrates the sheer immensity of Divine Love and its longing to be with, to be in communion with us... He becomes our food, our medicine, our soul spouse and the furnace in which we are purified and become what we were always meant to be... And he does all this for us who are about to betray, run away and crucify Him... and He does it now today too... in this moment and in every succeeding moment... calling out to us from the priesthood, from the altar, from the Blessed Sacrament, "A new commandment I leave unto you; that you love one another as I have loved you!"
The picture is of the Chapel of the Upper Room in Jerusalem, the ancient site of the Lord’s Supper and the place wherein these gifts were first made manifest by Divine Love.
No comments:
Post a Comment