This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
HOLY THURSDAYBending down…….Breaking self..!Ex12:1-8, 11-14 1Cor11:23-26 Jn13:1-15Dear Sisters, Brothers and Children, I join you in entering to the Triduum of salvation history. It is the culmination of the season of Lent. It speaks about the sacredness of the Holy Week. These three days have a volume of history to relive, and mystery to reflect. It is not a journey of one person, Jesus; rather it is the journey of humanity. He was with us, among us and part of us. It also reveals the extreme pain of human beings and all possible hope in life. What do I learn as I witness the washing of the feet? What do I need to do as we rejoice celebrating the great memory of Lord’s Supper? We begin to celebrate our Holy Thursday Eucharist with these reflections. As it is the birthday of Priesthood and Eucharist, we shall rejoice.In the rejoicing of these grace-filled Sacraments, Jesus was keenly aware that ‘His time’ was at hand, the time of His consummate self-emptying and self-giving. Christ is broken in His sharing in our pains, and suffers humiliation, desolation, and rejection. The pain of rejection is much more than any physical pain. We blame God for physical pain and sickness. But, whom to be blamed for the pain of rejection? A 5year old son, Joe, was diagnosed with Leukemia; his mother says his dad left him saying ‘he cannot handle it. It pains me, I am helpless. A BMT research physician shares that more spouses desert their husbands when they were diagnosed with cancer and were in need of BMT and further treatment. Their rejection pain is unimaginable. Ana, a 55year old, says, “I wanted to come back to the Church after long years of being away; my pastor was blaming and accusing me instead of accepting me into community. It’s painful to face this.” Another person said, ‘I was under drugs and with bad company, I was overcoming slowly but my parents did not want me, I got into it with all the pain from my blood family.’ Rejection causes pain. Pain leads to separation or division. The world is divided with nuclear power; nation is divided with political power; community is divided with groups, and religion creates division instead of unity. What is lacking is having a serving attitude. What caused damage is status& attitude? Holy Thursday reminds us that we are called to serve in order to build a united family, community and humanity. How many political and religious leaders live out this serving attitude? How many parents have a serving approach? What is the serving attitude teaching us this Holy Thursday is? We have instructions in the first reading about how to go about celebrating the great Passover meal. It is a memorial meal of the liberation of the People of Israel from slavery. They celebrated their new life as the People of God of Yahweh, who saw their trials and stood for them through His Covenantal love. Eventually they remembered the Passover as a ritual meal, forgetting the covenantal love of Yahweh; this caused division and discrimination, from the type of table, the place of worship, and in a public place. God, who came to their rescue, stood with them and gave them dignity and identity, was sad, seeing their attitude and living. The Jerusalem Temple was filled with animal sacrifice without mercy, and became money making place greater than God’s living place. So Jesus gives a new shape, structure and meaning to Passover by offering His flesh and blood as a gift that is Eucharist. He wants to affirm His ever abiding love and identity with humanity. He held His beloved disciples in His hands, He breaks His struggle, and He offers gratitude and shares His life and mission by sharing His body and blood. We gather here to share His life and His presence. How is this servant attitude revealed at the Last Supper? It is the birthday of Eucharist and Priesthood. Jesus had been to various meals and witnessed meaningless rituals at the Jerusalem Temple by priests. There was division between women and men, and separation between different groups, in particular between Jews and Samaritans. This division and separation was vivid especially at eating and worshipping places. People were struggling to express their pain of rejection. We know how Jesus was looked down upon for eating with the tax collector Zacchaeus, and encountering sinners while at table with the Pharisees. The Temple priest rejected the offerings of the poor and sided with corrupted religious leaders. They failed to unite people with God. Power and status took precedence over unity and humanity. Who can break this and how can we do this? Jesus used the meal experience to teach that we need to constantly break the differences, the egos, the status, power and prejudices. He is beginning to break in order to unite the humanity. He instituted The Eucharist, calling us to break around one altar together to live as Eucharistic community. Breaking alone is not enough. We need to bend, bending down from our self-status and self-expectations are important. Jesus is teaching His disciples to bend down in their ministry as followers. He bends down, by getting up from the place of master, he bends down by taking away the upper garment of the Jews, He bends down by taking the towel as the symbol of servant, He bends down by doing the act of the servant joyfully, willingly and gracefully washing the disciples’ feet; He bends down by performing the act of slave, kissing the feet of disciples. Bending down is coming down. Bending and coming down from my place of honor, glory, power and expectations to the level of the one I live, relate, work, minister and grow with, is servant attitude. Jesus teaches his friends that liberation and new life are won not in presiding over multitudes from royal thrones or by the quantity of bloody sacrifices offered on temple altars, but by walking with the lowly and poor, serving them as a foot-washer along the journey. The Stole and the Towel is a book, which sums up the message of the Italian Bishop, Tony Bello, who died of cancer at the age of 58. On Maundy Thursday of 1993, while on his deathbed, he dictated a pastoral letter to the priests of his diocese. He called upon them to be bound by "the stole and the towel." The stole symbolizes union with Christ in the Eucharist, and the towel symbolizes union with humanity by service. The priest is called upon to be united with the Lord in the Eucharist and with the people as their servant. Today we celebrate the institution of both the Eucharist and the priesthood: the feast of "the stole and the towel," the feast of love and service. IN 1431, England, St. Joan of Arc was asked about her last preference of the meal before her execution in the burning fire: she asked for Holy Communion the Eucharist. St. Damian said, “Eucharist is my stimulus energy.” St. Maximillian said, “the blood in my flesh is the blood of Jesus.” St. Peter Julian said, “Eucharist is the fire of Jesus’ love.” Saint John Paul said, “Eucharist is our possession.” Priests may leave with scandals, liturgy may be questioned, yet Eucharist and Priesthood will live forever because Jesus remains as Lord forever. Are we ready to break and bend down to create a painless family, community and humanity? We shall proudly witness that Jesus is binding us every time we gather for Eucharist and with Priesthood-Amen. 
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