Homily for Holy Thursday
Do you realize what I have done for you?
Easter is the greatest feast in the liturgical year, because of what is celebrated: Christ’s victory over evil and our redemption from sin, the beginning of the New Creation, all things made new.
If we ask, “How was that redemption accomplished?” the answer is found on Good Friday. Jesus saved us by what he did on the cross, by dying for us. More about that tomorrow.
But if we ask why our redemption was accomplished by the cross, by the death of Jesus the key is found today, on Holy Thursday.
In other words: Holy Thursday is the key to understanding the whole Paschal Mystery.
In the Gospel today, Jesus asks his disciples: “Do you realize what I have done for you?”
Jesus, the one whom John the Baptist called the Lamb of God, said: “Take this, all of you, and eat of it; for this is my Body, which will be given up for you. Take this, all of you, and drink from it; for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you.” And then he said those words that bring us here today: “Do this in memory of me.”
Why did what happened on the cross accomplish our redemption? The answer is given by one little word, the key to the mystery of Holy Thursday: the word, sacrifice.
When an innocent victim freely chooses to take on himself the consequences of evil, chooses to take the place of one who deserves the punishment of death, and that innocent victim does so out of love, the claim of sin is overcome by the generous sacrifice of love.
No mere human being could accomplish such a thing. But if one who was himself both God and man, who could take our place to die for us, and who was not just innocent but pure goodness itself, then such a sacrifice of love, the greatest imaginable, could do what the sacrifices of goats and bulls were unable to do: redemption.
This is my body, which will be given up for you; this is the chalice of my blood, which will be poured out for you.
As the liturgy today says, when Jesus was about to hand himself over to death, he entrusted to his disciples a new sacrifice for all eternity; and then he told them what it meant.
Jesus asks us, today, just as he asked his disciples on the night of the Last Supper: “Do you realize what I have done for you?”
The prayer over the offerings this evening repeats an ancient antiphon of the early Church: Whenever the memorial of this sacrifice is celebrated, the work of our redemption is accomplished.
The sacrifice of Jesus is the most amazing act of love of all time. But is it enough just to know that? To remember it, something done long ago? To be inspired by it, like a beautiful idea?
No. God does not want observers, merely watching what Jesus does. He wants sons and daughters, who will share in his work.
God wants us to share in the very act of love by which Jesus showed that he is the New Adam, the good son who trusts his Father and accomplishes his will. God wants us to join Jesus in his sacrifice so that we may join him in his glory.
We receive the grace of Easter, not just by watching what happens these next three days, but by sharing in the offering: by offering the sacrifice of Christ – the holiest prayer we can make – to the Father.
Every time you say Amen in the Mass, you are saying: Yes! Me too! I join Jesus in this offering: so be it! Amen! I offer myself with Jesus for the redemption of the whole world. I offer my life for the salvation of all my brothers and sisters. So that all would be made new!
And not just these three days but every day of our life: Offering our lives through Jesus, with Jesus, and in Jesus, both in the Mass and then outside of the Mass, until every part of our lives becomes one eternal sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and love to the Father.
Why do we call tomorrow Good Friday? Because of what we celebrate today. As he began his Passion, Jesus told his disciples clearly why he was doing what he was about to do:
This is my body, which will be given up for you; this is the chalice of my blood, which will be poured out for you.
On this Holy Thursday, we get the chance to renew our own priestly offering again: not just to watch, but to share in what Jesus does: to offer our life with his.
There’s an old saying, often told to newly ordained priests. I think the same saying could be given to you, those whom Christ has called to share in his greatest act of love, his sacrifice, in their participation in the Mass:
Offer this Mass as if it were your first Mass, your last Mass, your only Mass.
Jesus asks us, tonight: Do you realize what I have done for you? This is my body, which will be given up for you; this is the chalice of my blood, which will be poured out for you. Do this in memory of me.