33 Days of Eucharistic Glory prepares us for the Holy Week celebration...
33 Days of Eucharistic Glory prepares us for the Holy Week celebration...
This Lent, we were making our way through 33 Days of Eucharistic Glory. As we come to the close of 33 Days of Eucharistic Glory, on this Palm Sunday, we are making our Eucharistic Consecration. What does it mean? It is a radical act of love. We are responding to Jesus' sacrificial love. He instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper and gave us a command, “Do this in remembrance of me” Luke 22:19. Every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, he shares with us the greatest gift. During these 33 days, we prayerfully read and meditate on our pilgrimage in this world and how we receive the grace in the Eucharist, at Mass, or in adoration, to focus and follow Jesus. Then we prayed about the lives of the saints, who received the grace to live a sacrificial life. They all proclaimed the answer is Eucharist. We looked at the Eucharist throughout history, from Jesus’ teaching through present-day life. Also looked at the Eucharist and our life. There we prayed about our First Communion. And in the final days, we prayed on the moment of surrender, preparation for the Consecration.
Today, as we make our Eucharistic Consecration, we begin our Holy Week. The Church celebrates today as both Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday. Palm Sunday is when we process with palms into the Church—Jesus' solemn entrance to Jerusalem. Passion Sunday is a Sunday when we read the entire passion narrative from one of the first three Gospels—this year, the Gospel of Matthew. Then, we hear it from the Gospel of John on Good Friday again every year.
On Holy Thursday, there is a Chrism Mass in Cathedral Churches, as it is a solemn observance of Christ's institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood. To make the opportunity for most priests and laity to attend this Mass in our Diocese to celebrate before the Holy Week. At this 'Chrism Mass,' the bishop blesses the Oil of Chrism used for Baptism, Confirmation, Ordination, and Anointing of the Sick. On Holy Thursday, we celebrate three things: The institution of the Eucharist, the Institution of the Priesthood, and Jesus' promulgation of the new commandment of Love. "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:3). The original meaning of this feast is celebrating the passing of the angel of death over the Israelites and their escape from Egypt ((Exodus 12:3). In the new Passover, Jesus will pass over to the Father through the upcoming events of his Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. The Old Testament Passover started in Egypt and ended in Jerusalem – the Holy City. The new Passover started in Jerusalem and, by the resurrection and ascension, ended in heavenly Jerusalem.
The Holy Thursday liturgy in the parish communities is celebrated in the evening because Passover begins at sundown. Washing of the feet takes place in this Mass. In the Old Testament time, it was a gesture of hospitality, normally performed by household slaves. In John chapter 13, Jesus washes the disciples' feet. The foot washing may signify priestly ordination, as in Exodus 40:12. Food for the poor will be brought at the offertory. After the Holy Thursday evening Mass, the Blessed Sacrament is carried in solemn procession to the flower-bedecked Altar of Repose, where it will remain 'entombed' until the communion service on Good Friday. And finally, there is the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament by the people after the Holy Thursday Mass, just as the disciples stayed with the Lord during His agony on the Mount of Olives before Judas's betrayal. No Mass will be celebrated again in the Church until the Easter Vigil proclaims the Resurrection.
On Holy Thursday, at the institution of the Eucharist, Jesus said to his disciples, “This is my body broken for you; this is my blood and shed for you.” On Good Friday, we see that the sacrifice is completed on the cross. He broke himself for us and fed us. This is also the week when we should lighten the burden of Christ’s passion, as daily experienced by the needy, through our corporal and spiritual works of mercy: break and share. Jesus completed the sacrifices on the Cross. The water and blood came from the side of Jesus. In the book of Numbers, the water came out when Moses struck the rock (20:10-13). Paul interprets this rock as Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), from which flows the spiritual drink of the Eucharist. St. John Chrysostom says, “The water and blood symbolize Baptism and Holy Eucharist. From these two Sacraments the Church is born: from Baptism, the cleansing of water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit, and from the Holy Eucharist.” Since the baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Holy Week can become ‘holy’ for us only if we actively take part in the liturgies of this week. Let us meditate on these beautiful liturgies and renew our own faith.
Pope Leo the Great reminds us that Christ's actions—his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension—are not only historical events but also present in the sacraments we celebrate. His words emphasize that the mysteries of Christ's life remain real for us in the Eucharist and other sacraments.