05 Apr – Mass of the Lord’s Supper
God’s Love
An anonymous poet wrote:
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the heavens of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill;
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.
– I asked how much God loved me, and God stretched both arms fully sideways, and said, “This much” – and then he died.
– taken from “150 More Stories for Preachers and Teachers” by Jack McArdle
__________________
Exodus 12:1-14
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
‘This month is to be the first of all the others for you, the first month of your year. Speak to the whole community of Israel and say, “On the tenth day of this month each man must take an animal from the flock, one for each family: one animal for each household. If the household is too small to eat the animal, a man must join with his neighbour, the nearest to his house, as the number of persons requires. You must take into account what each can eat in deciding the number for the animal. It must be an animal without blemish, a male one year old; you may take it from either sheep or goats. You must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel shall slaughter it between the two evenings. Some of the blood must then be taken and put on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten. That night, the flesh is to be eaten, roasted over the fire; it must be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. You shall eat it hastily: it is a passover in honour of the Lord. That night, I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, man and beast alike, and I shall deal out punishment to all the gods of Egypt, I am the Lord! The blood shall serve to mark the houses that you live in. When I see the blood I will pass over you and you shall escape the destroying plague when I strike the land of Egypt. 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, for ever.”’
___________________
John 13:1-15
It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.
They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand’. ‘Never!’ said Peter ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me’. ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, ‘though not all of you are’.
When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? 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.
___________________
I chuckle whenever I read the first reading because it mentions that the Passover meal must be eaten hastily. Perhaps that explains the reason why our Catholics grumble whenever Mass takes longer than usual.
Today we commemorate the Institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. It is the summit and pinnacle of what we truly believe in and encompasses the entire Paschal mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. What is the driving force behind this mystery?
Love
He wanted to show us how perfect his love was by becoming a servant of servants; washing the feet of his apostles, including Judas. He washed the feet of the man that would betray him. It seems totally illogical and crazy for him to do such a thing but he did.
God is love. He cannot be anything else. We all have a choice before us, the choice to love him or to choice to not accept this love. Judas chose the latter. The devil might have put it into his mind the idea of the act but Judas had to do it. It was a decision of his to do it.
Similarly, we all have a choice whether we want to follow Christ. He never forces us to love him because it must be a free and willing choice of ours. He showed it to us by the washing of feet and asked his apostles to ‘copy what I have done to you.’ That takes a lot of courage for anybody to wash the feet of his enemy.
Pause and think of somebody that you harbour a strong hatred against. Imagine you washing his feet without any form of malicious intention. Can you? Why not?
Let us remember during this Holy Thursday that it was the love of God that gave us this Sacrament. However, we are all called to follow our Lord’s example of loving our enemies including the one that, in a modern context, caused us that promotion, pay rise, shamed me in public or caused me to commit sin. Only then can we understand the greatness or dare we say, craziness, of God’s love.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Nick Chia)
___________________
Pray: That we see the goodness of the foes we have and realise the futility of such hatred.
Give thanks for: The unselfish love of Christ to die on the cross for our sins
Upcoming Readings:
Fri, 06 Apr – Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42; Good Friday
Sat, 07 Apr – Genesis 1:1-2:2 or 1,26-31a; Genesis 22:1-18 or 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Exodus 14:15-15:1; Isaiah 54:5-14; Isaiah 55:1-11; Baruch 3:9-15, 32-4:4; Ezekiel 36::16-17, 18-28; Romans 6:3-11; Luke 24:1-12; Easter Vigil
Sun, 08 Apr (Easter Sunday morning) – Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8; John 20:1-9or Luke 24:1-12
————————
To subscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe to this mailing list, send a blank e-mail to this address:
Godismyoxygen-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
————————
Disclaimer: The reflections expressed in this e-mail are the writer’s own. They may not necessarily reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nonetheless we should all be able to learn something from it.
OXYGEN 