-

Holy Thursday

In a letter to Priests on Holy Thursday Pope John Paul says:
We were born from the Eucharist. If we can truly say that the whole Church lives from the Eucharist…we can say the same thing about the ministerial priesthood: it is born, lives, works and bears fruit “de Eucharistia.” There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist.

I think that this beautify sums up for us what tonight is all about. It is first of all about the Eucharist the Mass and what it means for so many people though out the Catholic tradition. We have been following the Lord’s command to: Do this is memory of me since that night when Jesus shared his Passover with his disciples. The Mass is central to whom we are and as Vatican II says it is the source and summit of our worship: And as we have seen though out History apart from being a sign of unity it has been a source of Diversity and controversy even to putting people to Death.

In the second reading today we see that Paul talks about the tradition that he had received. This is our earliest account of the Eucharist and what is interesting is that this is earlier than the account in the Gospels and the Tradition had already been established so it has always been important for the community to: Do this in memory of me.
For me one of the moving parts of the Mass today is the washing of feet. Jesus shows us by his actions the depth of his love. In the times of Jesus the servant would wash the people’s feet as they came into a house. So what was Jesus showing us is that we should be servants to others.

The other thing that we look at today is the institution of the Priesthood. We see two ideas the first thing that we have seen as I have said earlier is the Institution of the Eucharist and linked with that is service. Priesthood is about being at service to the Gospel by bringing people to God. And I have to say for me it is the best job on earth. I would and could not do anything else. Bringing Christ to others and watching people grow in their faith and also allowing me to grow with them is a joy to watch and be part of.

Today in L’arche I witnessed a very moving act it showed me what exactly what service was as each member of the community washed each other’s feet or hands We need to be able to be servants to each other following the example of Christ and washing each other’s feet allowing Christ so let us learn from Jesus as we continue to do this in memory of me and learn how to love and serve each other.

Comments

Anne Chapman said…
You must give us a talk one day about what it feels like to be a priest. Saying Mass must be a bit scary sometimes as you are 'standing in' for God.
22 April 2011 at 17:39
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fashion tips for what its worth.

-
Image
The Other day I had an Conversation with someone about Fashion. I am not sure if many of you know but I used to work in Top shop in Oxford Circus. So I thought I woulds share with you some of the trend that might look good for the Summer of 2012.  First of all I am really pleased to say that there seems to be a little colour back into the high street this season. This must be because of the bad weather that people want to wear bold and primary colours. Although I am not sure about the hat in the lower picture. Am I old fashioned enough to say that hats and woolen hats should be winter wear and not summer wear. Fresh and clean colours are in this year.   Good but loose the hat. The black and grey days are over and we can see that these are both stylish from the ladies but also a Casual look from the lads. But there are some fashions that are clearly wrong and should be left alone. See the Green Jumper down below. I don't really know where to ...
Read more

More than many Sparrows

-
A number of years ago I worked in Oxford Street in Top shop. I was working in the exchange and refund department. I was suprized by the amount of people that used fashion to hide who they really were. The one thing that they would say quite a lot was that they shopped and brought clothes to make them selves feel better. Now this is not a homily against retail therapy or against fashion shops but I have to say I met a lot of people that used this and other things to get over the pain that they did not either like themselves and therefore feel love of another person.  It is true to say that there are many times in our lives where we are afraid to be our true authentic selves. We hide behind the masks that we portray. We are one thing to one person and another to someone else. We try our best and hardest to try and please everyone where we almost become like a camelion. I suppose the question I have is why do we do this. Why do we waste so much energy trying to be all things to a...
Read more

Jesus and Travel plans

-
Image
Whenever I go away on holiday or just over night I always without fail over pack: I take loads of stuff away with me and half the stuff I don’t actually use or need. In my mind I have the phrase going through my head “Oh I might just need that.” And then when we get back we actually realised that I did not need it at all.  Basically I do not travel light. I would have then great difficulties I think being a disciple. I would not be able to cope with the travel plans that Jesus would have given me. No spare tunic no, no money, no travel insurance.  Jesus tells us that all we need his authority and the gift of ourselves the talents and gifts that we have been given by God. Mark says nothing in this Gospel about what the disciples said in their missionary activity the most important thing here is presence and through that presence they are witnesses to the Gospel. So what do the disciples tells us about what it means to be Gospel. The phrase that comes into my mind ...
Read more