HOLY THURSDAY - THE LORD'S SUPPER 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I give you a new commandment:
love one another just as I have loved you,
says the Lord. JN 13:34

EXODUS 12:1-8,11-14 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 2Pet 3:8 How true this is. God always intended to save us through You. God always intended for You to be our food and drink. The Passover Lamb that the Israelites sacrificed and ate and its blood sprinkled on their doorposts preserved their lives when the angel of death struck the firstborn of the Egyptians. 

In the New Passover which we celebrate today, You, the

firstborn of the Father, are the Lamb of God without stain or blemish. You offer Yourself to the Father as an atonement for the sins of the world. You take our place and You are struck down in our stead, raised high on the Cross, enduring the punishment that was ours and dying our death so we may have a share in Your life.

This is a day of jubilation, of celebration, of gratitude for today we receive the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God as our food and drink which wells up to eternal life for us. Thank You, Lord.

This day is to be a day of remembrance for you, and you must celebrate it as a feast in the Lord’s honour. For all generations you are to declare it a day of festival, forever.

PSALM 116:12-13,15-18 ©

The psalmist asks:

How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?

And he responds:
The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.

Ever since You instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of the Priesthood 2000 years ago the Church You established offers to the Father the once-for-all, one, holy, perfect, and only acceptable Sacrifice to the Father on our behalf in expiation for our sins. No other prayer, no form of worship, no other sacrifice can obtain for us what the Holy Mass does. 

To the Father, the death of His Son is precious and makes perfect atonement for the sins of the whole world. You became the Suffering Servant and upon You was heaped a punishment and a death that was ours. You became a slave in order to loosen the bonds that held us captive to the world, the flesh, and the devil.

This is the thanksgiving sacrifice, the Holy Eucharist that the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church makes to the Father until time shall cease and You return in glory to establish Your Kingship over the people You have redeemed. 

1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-26 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

St. Paul speaking to the people of Corinth confirms that what he himself received from You and in turn passes on to them is the Holy Eucharist. 

Many well-meaning members of Your Body have deliberately cut themselves off from Your Church and formed their own little groups which continue to implode and fragment and each of these splintered groups claim to have received a new and fresh understanding of revealed Truth from the Holy Spirit. 

Only those who remain faithful to Your Church and embrace the fullness of Truth that subsists in her alone, we will be in error. Your Word is clear: Unless we eat Your Flesh and drink Your Blood we cannot have Your life in us. The Holy Eucharist is celebrated in Your Church, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered in Your Church, the fullness of life and Truth is found in Your Church. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, she preserves it and lives it in the life of her members. She has contemplated the truths of the faith for over 2000 years and she will never exhaust the truths and the treasures of wisdom contained in it for it is a living, breathing Word.

JOHN 13:1-15 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Since the creation of the world and from the moment of our fall we have desired to be loved as only God loves.  Those who found the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field are the ones who discover it. 

The hour for which You came into the world is fast approaching. Your mission will soon be fulfilled. Now is the time when God, once and for all time, will reveal to the whole world the scandalous love He has for sinners. There will be an explosion of divine love as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, will act in concert reconciling humanity and divinity in order to redeem a fallen world by paying the price of death and through it emerging victorious and triumphant in order that we may have a share in Your divine life.

How reassuring it is to hear Your words, He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was. Only God can love us as we long to be loved - just as we are. 

Today You also teach us a profound lesson in humility that cardinal virtue that has the power to confound the Enemy. You get up from the table, reminding us that we have to move out of our comfort zone in order to serve. You remove Your outer garment teaching us to discard all that can be an impediment and will hinder us in our service, You then clothe Yourself in a towel, the garment of humility. You then proceed to wash each of Your disciples' feet teaching us that we need to get down on our knees in submission, like a slave, to serve. It is a complete act of service done repeatedly for each disciple, kneeling, washing, and drying their feet. It is a necessary act marking us for service if we wish to be Your disciples. 

You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.