Homily for Holy Thursday Night 2021
The scene is set and we are invited to remember the First Passover and how God protected his people so that they could escape slavery in Egypt and begin the journey to the Promised Land. They assembled together and still do today to celebrate that momentous occasion, by eating the ritual Passover meal. And that celebration echoes our coming together this evening as we too remember God coming to our aid, and we do this in remembrance of Him.
The psalm leads us on in our Remembrance, and encourages us with these words, “How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?”… “My vows to the Lord I will fulfil before all his people” we speak these words in remembrance of Him.
The Corinthians are reminded by St Paul about the generosity of Jesus in giving us himself through the gift of the Eucharist his true and real presence under the form of Bread and Wine, our Passover meal, which we in turn will share tonight in remembrance of Him.
Finally we find ourselves transported into the Upper Room where after this spectacular giving of Himself in the Eucharist he teaches us how to make him present in the World through our love and service as he washes his reluctant disciples feet teaching them humility and challenging them to do the same for each other, so that the Christ may be seen alive in the world through them and through us; incredibly we recognise that our very lives should be lived in remembrance of Him.
This strange year brings us to this moment when we are not able to enact the washing of feet as we would normally do, but it does find us being able to come together unlike last year to celebrate this Mass of the Lords Supper. Therefore it gives us the opportunity to remember those who have died in the past year and those who mourn; we are able to give thanks for so many acts of kindness and courage shown during the year; we are grateful for good neighbours for the well being of our children, and that we can meet up with our family’s again. We are full of amazement and pride at the achievements of the NHS and all carers and of our scientists and researchers who have developed the vaccines to protect us. Subsequently tonight we have a real sense of what it must have been like for the chosen people as the angel of death passed over them, and give thanks that we are able to celebrate our Mass tonight in remembrance of Him.
So my dear friends we have much to give thanks for tonight, and our prayers continue for the problems of the present moment and the uncertain future, and we offer them with humble hearts, with praise and thanks on our lips in remembrance of Him.
The love that will swamp us during these days of the suffering and death of the Lord, if we have open hearts ready to receive, will draw us more deeply into the love of the Lord and in the words of the poet Péguy we will discover:
“‘The dream you dream is my dream,’ says God. ‘The house you build is my house,’ says God. ‘And the love with which you love each other is my love,’ says God.”
Tonight we rededicate our dreams, our house building and our love for each other in remembrance of Him.
mjk