In Remembrance, In Service

On this day dedicated to priesthood, Eucharist and mandatum, BustedHalo's meditation comes from "Big Sis" -- Daughter of St Paul Sr Bernadette Reis.

Full... snip:

It would make perfect sense, of course, that the gospel reading for a liturgy devoted to the institution of the Eucharist would be one of the synoptic Gospels in which Jesus blesses the bread and wine (“Take this and eat it. This is my body”). It is significant—and surprising to many Catholics when they are made aware of it—that the Church chooses instead to proclaim the Gospel of John on Holy Thursday which replaces the Eucharistic scene found in the other gospels with Jesus’ washing of the apostles’ feet. Because of this nuance, I have often wondered if we are not only celebrating the gift of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, but also our participation in our Baptismal call as Christians to participate in the priesthood of Christ.

All baptized Christians are called to be priest, prophet and king. Our common priesthood differs from the ministerial priesthood because it is rooted in the Sacrament of Baptism but it is nevertheless just as real....

He commanded the Twelve to “copy” his example by washing each others’ feet—“what I have done, so you must do.” The example we copy is that of humble, loving service to one another. By copying Jesus in this way we make Him present once again in the world and we experience a Eucharistic moment of a different sort.

I was never so aware of this than when I was in Rome a few years ago. In prayer I had been posing a question to the Lord at that time asking where He was in my relationship with Him. As I headed toward the bus stop, a young man beckoned to me. He was handicapped and mute and was using sign language to tell me he needed help getting a bus. I agreed and he took my arm. All of his body weight pressed against me. At the bus stop were a number of habited religious and priests, all of whom had to have just rounded the same corner I had. They were staring at the two of us as we came closer. “How did he know he could ask me?” I asked myself. When the bus arrived, I helped the young man onto the bus and asked if he was okay. He shot back the most beautiful smile with his thumb and forefinger making the “okay” sign.

Then the doors of the bus closed and the floodgates opened. Jesus had answered my prayer. I had been interacting with a severely handicapped man; but I had also been interacting with Jesus, and he with me. In fact, we had made Christ present to each other.

I realized then that this is how the common priesthood of the faithful is exercised and what it can hold for us if we are open enough to allow the people around us to mediate God’s presence. We hear at the end of Mass, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and one another.” It is in the everyday, immediate, sometimes monotonous seconds and minutes of our lives that we are so often blind to, that we are called to mediate the presence of the Lord by serving each other and fulfilling our calling to be priest, prophet and king.

Also at BH: the case for Tenebrae.

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On a just-as-universal note, tonight's last notes in church will be the same the world over.

In the world's most-expressive Catholic culture, however, the final Final Procession takes to the streets... with the usual flair.


From the Philippines to Philadelphia and everywhere in between, a Blessed Triduum to one and all.

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