10-Apr-2014 Dear Friend,
>From ancient times the Church set apart Holy Thursday as the day to reflect on >what Jesus did and taught during his last meal on earth. Holy Thursday has >been called 'Maundy' Thursday, to remind us of the mandate of the Lord, the >new commandment of the Lord: "Love one another as I have loved you." This >evening's readings are about remembering that command: "Do this in remembrance >of me." How often do we remember what Jesus has done for us? May we have a >love-filled Holy Thursday! -Fr. Jude Sunday Ref.: Maundy Thursday "Do this in memory of me! Serve with love!" 17-Apr-2014 Readings: Exodus 12: 1-8, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26; John 13: 1-15; The Book of Exodus tells us how the Lord ordered the Israelites to keep the Paschal meal. Each family had to kill a lamb and smear the doorpost of their house with the blood of the lamb. The meal had to be eaten standing to signify their readiness to pass from the land of slavery to the land of freedom. It would also signify the passing of the angel of the Lord over the houses of the Israelites marked by the blood of the lamb. To remember this Passover from generation to generation, God ordered the Israelites to keep a feast, the Feast of the Passover. The lamb sacrificed was eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs and the father of the family would explain to the children, year after year, what the meal and the feast meant. Our Eucharistic celebration is a commemoration of the same Paschal meal, reminding us that we are called to pass from the slavery of sin to the freedom of the children of God; passing over from wherever we are to where the Lord wants us to be. It recalls the fact that God has passed over our sins, thanks to the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, through whose death we are given life. Faith is remembering what matters! Our celebration reminds us that we are called to pass from the slavery of sin to the freedom of the children of God; it recalls the fact that God has passed over our sins, Faith is remembering what matters! Don't forget what really matters Carl Coleman was driving to work one morning when he bumped fenders with another motorist. Both cars stopped, and the woman driving the other car got out to survey the damage. She was distraught. It was her fault she admitted, and hers was a new car, less than two days from the show room. She dreaded facing her husband. Coleman was sympathetic; but he had to pursue the exchange of license and registration data. She reached into her glove compartment to retrieve the documents in an envelope. On the first paper to tumble out, written in her husband's distinctive hand, were the words: "In case of accident, remember, Honey, it's you I love, not the car." Paul Harvey in 'Stories of the Heart' While the focus of the celebration tonight is on the Eucharist, the Gospel is that of Jesus washing his disciples' feet and commanding the disciples to wash one another's feet as he had done. John wrote his gospel more than fifty years after the last supper had taken place, yet he did not forget any details of that momentous night. However he does not narrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist, since Matthew, Mark and Luke had already done it. His Christians not only knew about the Last Supper but they celebrated the Eucharist every Sunday. But John wanted to remind the Christians of the central point of Jesus' teaching, his new commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you." John was very keen that all Christians should learn that the celebration of the Eucharist should lead us to practice Jesus' command of loving service. To drive home this message he tells us how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples during the Last Supper. No other Gospel narrates this event. The setting for Jesus' symbolic action is his last Passover meal. Jesus loved his own, and "he loved them to the very end." Jesus' self-emptying love urges him to offer his disciples the cleansing touch of water and the loving touch of his hands. Today's gospel invites us to be like Jesus in deeds of service. Christ, the Pelican An old African folk tale talks about a land which was suffering from famine. Men and beasts starved to death. Everyone worried about just staying alive. In this country lived a pelican which did not worry about keeping itself alive as much as preserving the life of her young ones. Day after day she scrounged for food. But the pelican could find no other way out, so in her great need she made a hole in her own breast with her beak and gave her young ones her own blood to drink. When the famine was over, her young ones were strong and able to fly away and look for themselves. She had given her blood that they might live. Willi Hofsuemmer A walking Sermon One afternoon in 1953, reporters and officials gathered at a Chicago railroad station to await the arrival of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner. He stepped off the train - a giant of a man, six-feet-four, with bushy hair and a large moustache. As cameras flashed, city officials approached with hands outstretched and began telling him how honoured they were to meet him. He thanked them politely and then, looking over their heads, asked if he could be excused for a moment. He walked through the crowd with quick strides until he reached the side of an elderly black woman who was struggling as she tried to carry two large suitcases. He picked up the bags in his big hands and, smiling, escorted the woman to a bus. As he helped her aboard, he wished her a safe journey. Meanwhile, the crowd tagged along behind him. He turned to them and said, "Sorry to have kept you waiting." The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary-doctor, who had spent his life helping the poorest of the poor in Africa. A member of the reception committee said to the reporters: "That's the first time I ever saw a sermon walking." Brian Cavanaugh in 'The Sower's Seeds' One of you is Jesus! There was a monastery in a remote village. The monks were very few and very old. The head of the monastery -the abbot, was also an old man. One day he walked across the road to meet a friend. As they were talking the abbot's friend said to him, "Father, you seem to be very sad. May I know the reason?" "You are right my friend!" said the abbot, "In the monastery all the monks are very old like me. These days we are not getting any younger men aspiring for the monastic life. I fear that after some time, there may not be any more monks." After hearing the abbot's story, the man said, "Dear Father, I am a worldly man. I don't understand much about your life. And I surely don't know who is going to carry on the monastery after some time; but this I am certain: one of you is JESUS." The abbot was surprised at this remark and asked him, "Tell me. Who is Jesus among us? Then the man replied, "That I don't know, but one among you is Jesus." The abbot came back to the monastery and shared the conversation of his friend with his confreres. All were equally taken up with this thought: one among them was Jesus. The abbot thought that his assistant who was a holy man could be Jesus and treated him with love and respect. The assistant thought that the former novice Master might be Jesus and he began to treat him with reverence and love. Each thought that the other was Jesus and began treating him with love, compassion and reverence. A few months later, a group of college students came to visit the monastery. When he saw the selflessness, love and reverence among the monks for each other, they marveled at them. A few days later, one of the students came and joined the monastery. Eventually, the fame of the monastery spread far and wide. Many people started joining it, and once again it started to flourish. Love brought life to the dying monastery. Love transformed a dying community into a vibrant one. John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies' Make me like Joe! Joe was a drunk who was miraculously converted at the Bowery mission. Prior to his conversion, he had gained the reputation of being a dirty wino for whom there was no hope, only a miserable existence in a ghetto. But following his conversion to a new life with God everything changed. Joe became the most caring person that anyone associated with the mission had ever known. Joe spent his days and nights hanging out at the mission, doing whatever needed to be done. There was never anything he was asked to do that he considered beneath him. Whether it was cleaning up the vomit left by some violently sick alcoholic or scrubbing toilets after careless men had left the men's room filthy, Joe did what was asked with a smile on his face and a seeming gratitude for the chance to help. He could be counted on to feed feeble men who wandered off the street and into the mission, and to undress and tuck into bed men who were too out of it to take care of themselves. One evening, when the director of the mission was delivering his evening evangelistic message to the usual crowd of still and sullen men with drooped heads, there was one man who looked up, came down the aisle to the altar, and knelt to pray, crying out for God to help him to change. The repentant drunk kept shouting, "Oh God! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe!" The director of the mission leaned over and said to the man, "Son, I think it would be better if you prayed, 'Make me like Jesus.'" The man looked up at the director with a quizzical expression on his face and asked, "Is he like Joe?" Tony Campolo -from 'Everything You Heard Is Wrong' May we serve others with love in memory of Jesus! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
