Holy Thursday 2022 – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church, Burns, Oregon, and Missions; April 14, 2022

Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father.

At that moment, he acted in a most deliberate and knowing manner, as a demonstration of his love for his own in the world, not just his own in that time and place, but for all whom he foresaw in the light of his godhead, in every time and place, even those of his own, here and now at Holy Family Catholic Church in Burns. He sees us now, not just from his throne in heaven at the right hand of the Father, he sees us and he knows us, each one, as he reclines at the table with his Apostles some 2,000 years ago.

On that first Holy Thursday he did three things, symbolized when he washed the feet of his disciples: he instituted the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and Blood; he instituted the priesthood to perpetuate the Holy Eucharist, sacrifice, sacrament, and presence, through all generations to the end of time; and he gave us his new commandment, to love one another as he has loved us. (cf. Mt 28:20; Jn 13:34) He washed the feet of the first priests, preparing them and their successors throughout the ages for their ministry of service and in the Holy Eucharist he lowered himself before us even farther than when he washed the feet of the Apostles, at the same time giving us the supreme example symbolized by that footwashing, the example that serves as the standard for his commandment, as I have loved you. (Jn 13:34) He did all of this in an intimate Passover meal with his Apostles, taking the role of the father of the family, taking the chief moment of Jewish ritual, with all its memory and meaning, bringing it to fulfillment and transforming it by his divine power. (cf. Mt 26:17,20)

The Passover was instituted when the people of Israel were still slaves in Egypt, after Pharaoh had hardened his heart, refusing to let the Israelites journey into the desert to worship God, despite having already suffered a succession of nine plagues. The Passover was instituted after Moses announced the final plague, the death of the first born of the Egyptians, making a distinction between Israelite and Egyptian – against the people of Israel, either man or beast, not a dog shall growl; that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites. (Ex 11:7)

Yet, by a mysterious decree, God made the salvation of the Israelites dependent upon the celebration of the Passover, for the destroying angel spared only those homes that were marked by the blood of the lamb, only those homes in which the Passover was kept.

The ritual of the Passover thus served, at its very institution, to protect the people of Israel and, by its perpetuation, to call to mind in a solemn act of thanksgiving to God, the liberation once accomplished, nourishing at the same time hope in God’s continued provision for his people. Throughout history the celebration of the Passover took up into itself all the memories and hopes of the Jewish people in their relation to God. It also became a prophetic symbol for all future deliverance, especially the definitive salvation to come through the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus instituted the new Passover in his Blood, setting in motion the events that would lead to his lifegiving death on the Cross, explaining the meaning of his death as the sacrifice of the true Passover Lamb, and leaving to his Church a perpetual sacrifice, a perpetual memorial, a perpetual thanksgiving, which, containing as it does his true Body and Blood, is one with his own sacrifice, given to us to offer always anew. Now, in every place it has been celebrated throughout the centuries, the Mass always takes up into itself all the history of the new people of God, the Church, and offers it to God, together with all our memories and all our hopes.

Jesus was offered as the true Passover Lamb which was, a year-old male without blemish, meaning he was offered without sin, having attained maturity and perfection as a man, suffering neither the weakness of childhood nor the decrepit condition of old age, but in the prime of life and the perfection of his strength. Before our sins marred the beauty of his face, he attained the perfection of manhood in body and mind.

Either a sheep or a goat could be offered in sacrifice, the sheep for the innocence of Christ, obedient to death, even death on a Cross; (Ph 2:8) the goat because he took our sins upon himself, offering his life in expiation for sin. (cf. Lev 16:5)

The Jewish Passover was sacrificed in the Temple but eaten in the family, the household. Jesus, when he instituted the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and Blood, celebrated the Passover with the twelve Apostles, whom he established as his family, his household. Now, each church in which the Holy Eucharist is celebrated becomes both the Temple in which the Blood of Christ is offered and the Household in which the Lamb is eaten in holy communion.

Just as only those who ate of the Passover in Egypt and remained in the house shared in the great salvation that God wrought on behalf of his people, so only those who persevere in the ‘House’ which is the Church and eat of the Passover, which is the Body and Blood of Christ, shall be saved.

Jesus said, Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (Jn 6:52-54)

Here we need to distinguish between the sacrament and the reality. The normal way of partaking of the reality is by receiving the sacrament, which is a visible sign that both contains and communicates the reality of Christ’s Body and Blood. There are, however, two ways of receiving the sacrament: like Judas, who partook of the sign in a false manner, rejecting and acting against the reality; or like the other Apostles who received both sacrament and reality. There are also those who for whatever reason are unable to partake of the sacrament, but in the mercy of God attain to the reality by means of faith working through charity. (cf. Gal 5:6)

In the words of the sequence for Corpus Christi, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas, “Both the wicked and the good eat of this celestial Food: but with ends how opposite! With this most substantial Bread, unto life or death they’re fed, in a difference infinite.” (Sequence, Lauda Sion)

So St. Paul warned us, immediately after recounting the institution of the sacrament at the Last Supper in words that we have just heard in today’s 2nd reading: Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself and so eat… (1 Cor 11:27-28)

During the course of history and even today churches have been violently assailed in the midst of the celebration of the Mass, the faithful have been slaughtered, their blood shed in both nave and sanctuary, nevertheless, the destroying angel passes over and spares for eternal life those who are truly marked by the Blood of the Lamb, who have communion with Body of Christ not in mere appearance, but in reality. This sacrament is always a judgment against the world and salvation for the faithful; the Lord knows who are his own. (2 Tim 2:19)

Both the original Passover in Egypt and the Last Supper took place in the midst of danger. The book of Wisdom tells us: In secret the holy children of good men offered sacrifices, and with one accord agreed to the divine law, that the saints would share alike the same things, both blessings and dangers. (Wis 18:9)

Men who have been together in combat, such that their lives were dependent on each other in a very real and immediate fashion, develop a very special bond. The bond of Christian love that lies at the basis of the new commandment, should be similar and even more special, only it is not our life in this world but our eternal salvation that is at stake.

When we receive communion we share the same blessing, not mere words of love, but the substantial love of the Body of Christ, given for us, and we pledge ourselves to Christ our King and to the brotherhood of Christian warfare, the spiritual combat not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12)

Indeed, the Apostles left the Last Supper with Jesus and went into the Garden of Gethsemani, where he begged them to keep him company, to watch and pray so as not to enter into temptation. (cf. Mt 26:38,41) We know that they failed, but now that Christ has died, risen from the dead, and given to us the gift of his Holy Spirit, he calls us – not because we are better, because we are not – to succeed where they failed. That is why we go from this Mass to a vigil of prayer together in company with the Lord. St. Peter, after he had recovered from his fall and been forgiven by the Lord, writes to us that we should resist the devil, firm in faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world. (1 Pe 5:9)

In the unity of the Body of Christ, we are all in this together; when one person falters, when one person stumbles and falls, we all suffer; when one person stands strong and faithful, we are all strengthened and encouraged. In this sense, St. Paul writes, bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (Gal 6:2)

This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight.

This is the Passover of the Lord, and we are in flight with him, from this world to the Father.