27-Mar-2018 Dear Friend, Today’s liturgy contains a wealth of themes we could reflect upon: the original Passover of the Jews reminding us of the institution of the Eucharist, the institution of the Priesthood when the Lord invited his disciples to ‘do this in memory of me,’ the betrayal of Judas, and the washing of the feet of the disciples. Often on Holy Thursday, we focus especially on the commandment of love that makes the Eucharist come alive and that makes Jesus ready to suffer and die on the cross. May our celebration help us to pass over from where we are to where the Lord wishes us to be! -Fr. Jude Reflection- Holy Thursday: ‘Washing their feet! He set us an example of loving service!’ 29-Mar-2018Exodus 12: 1-8, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26; John 13: 1-15; The first reading reminds us that the Passover meal was a thanksgiving sacrifice during which the Israelites recalled how the Lord had led them from the slavery of Egypt to the Promised Land. The Israelites were never to forget what God had done for them. To symbolize their readiness to journey to wherever the Lord was leading them, they had to eat the meal standing and in a hurry, they were a people on the move, ready to be led by their Savior. We too recall our personal salvation history and so the Mass becomes a ‘looking back’ with gratitude and a ‘looking forward’ in hope. The Eucharist also reminds us that just as the angel of the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites marked by the blood of the lamb, so the Lord passes over us marked by the blood of Christ. Do this in memory of me...Jesus asked his disciples to remember him and to celebrate the Eucharist in His memory. What are we celebrating each time we celebrate the Passover? Are we on purpose? –It reminds me of the old hunting story of the deer hound which set off one morning chasing a magnificent buck. A few minutes into the chase a fox crossed that path and the hound veered off to chase the fox. A little later a rabbit crossed that path and the hound was soon baying after the rabbit. Then a squirrel crossed the path and the dog was pounding after him. Finally a field mouse crossed the path and the hound chased it into its burrow. The deer hound had begun chasing a great buck but would end up watching a mouse hole!Walter Bausch in ‘Telling compelling Stories’ The Gospel reminds us that just before he went to his passion, Jesus wished to celebrate his passing over with a farewell meal. His disciples sense that something is going to happen, and to add to it all Jesus tells them that one with whom he is going to celebrate this meal is going to betray him. In spite of the rejection and the sense of failure, Jesus made the mighty decision to stay faithful to his mission from the Father. But Jesus does not let the anxiety of his passion or the present betrayals prevent him from showing the depth of his love. Having loved his own, he was ready to love them no matter what their response, no matter what the cost. When we reflect on the washing of the feet we regard it as a parable in action, the action of Jesus spoke for itself. When Jesus came to Peter, he refused to let Jesus wash his feet. Jesus tells Peter that if he does not wash his feet he can have no part in this meal. What Jesus is saying is that His action is more than an act of humble service. It points to the very nature of Jesus’ redeeming life and work: It is not we who redeem ourselves by anything we do; it is even more allowing ourselves to be washed; it is allowing Jesus to act in us and for us; it is letting Him be God and the only Savior of our life. Liturgy and LifeIn a pastorally meaningful and touching gesture, Pope Francis visited the Roman prison of Rebibbia and celebrated the 2015 Holy Thursday Eucharist with the inmates. He spoke the following words to them: “This is Thursday, Jesus is at the table with the disciples celebrating the feast of the Passover. The passage of the gospel we have heard says a word that is precisely the center of what Jesus did for all of us. “He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. Jesus loves us -But without limits, always to the end… This is the first thing I wanted to tell you. Jesus loves each one of you “to the end.” And then he does something that the disciples did not understand. He washed their feet. The washing of the feet was done by the slaves. Jesus cleans the feet of the disciples, like a slave. And he says to them: “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.”….. And I will wash today the feet of 12 of you, but in these brothers and sisters there are all of you. Everyone! Everyone! All those who live here. You represent them, but I also have a need to be cleaned by the Lord. And for this I pray during this Mass so that the Lord may also clean my filth, so that I become more your slave, more of a slave in the service of people, as Jesus was.”Pope Francis Do this in memory of meThe author Leslie Weatherhead tells of a frail ten-year old boy whose mother had died and he was admitted to a Children’s home run by some Sisters. The first thing they did was to give him a warm shower and some clean clothes. He loved the new outfit but put on his old tattered cap. He clutched it tightly when the Sisters tried to remove it. After coaxing, he exchanged it for a new one. But before accepting the new one, he ripped the lining of the old and stuffed it in his pocket. “Why did you do that?” Sister asked. “Because,” he replied, that’s part of my mother’s dress, I must keep it to remember her.Anonymous “That’s the first time I saw a sermon walking!”Reporters and city officials gathered at a Chicago railroad station one afternoon in 1953. The person they were meeting was the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner. A few moments after the train came to a stop, a giant of a man six feet four inches with bushy hair and a large moustache stepped down from the train. Cameras flashed. City officials approached him with hands outstretched. Various people began by telling him how honored they were to meet him. The man politely thanked them and then, looking over their heads, asked if he could be excused for a moment. He quickly walked through the crowd until he reached the side of an elderly black woman who was struggling with two large suitcases. He picked up the bags and, with a smile, escorted the woman to a bus. After helping her aboard, he wished her a safe journey. As he returned to the greeting party he apologized, “Sorry to have kept you waiting.” The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary doctor, who had spent his life helping the poor in Africa. In response to Schweitzer’s action, one member of the reception said with great admiration to the reporter standing next o him, “That’s the first time I ever saw a sermon walking.”John Pichappilly in ‘Ignite your Spirit’ True worship of the heartThere is a story about some monks in France who were popular for their loving sympathy and kind deeds, but not one of them could sing. One day a travelling monk, a great singer, asked for hospitality. Great was their joy, for now they could have him sing for their services, and they hoped to keep him with them always. But that night an angel came to the abbot in a dream. “Why was there no music in your chapel tonight? We always listen for beautiful music that rises in your services.” “You must be mistaken!” cried the abbot. “Usually we have no music worth hearing, but tonight, we had a trained singer with a wonderful voice, and he sang the service for us. For the first time in all these years our music was beautiful.” The angel smiled. “And yet up in heaven we heard nothing,” he said softly.Quoted from ‘Sunday Companion’ in ‘Quotes and Anecdotes’ The Peter PrincipleSome years ago, a popular book called The Peter Principle was based on the premise that too often a person climbing the managerial ladder was promoted one step above his capacity to manage. A Christian variation on this theme could be called ‘The Simon Peter Principle,’ a rule which holds that St. Peter the Apostle was always over his head when assaying the humanity of Jesus. From the day when Jesus called Peter ‘Satan’ for supposing that he could escape human suffering to the night before he died, Peter clung to the belief that Jesus was somehow too good or too holy or too powerful to have to submit to the evil designs of his persecutors. To Peter’s mind, it was impossible that the Master could be so humbled. The ‘Simon Peter Principle’ lives on today in all of us who think that Jesus merely donned the cloak of humanity and went through the motions of human trial and suffering to set an example for the rest of us who are mired in the flesh. We pin our hopes in a God who could throw off his mantle of flesh at any moment and strike dead his tormentors. When alone in intimacy with the Savior, we say with Peter, “You shall never wash my feet,” meaning, “Come on, I know who you really are. You can drop your pose with me.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes our acceptance of his total and authentic humanity a requirement for sharing his heritage. To be a Christian means much more than believing in God’s son come to earth. It means accepting the fact that God could be, and chose to be, and was humiliated…Not just humble, but humiliated. We have seen kings and presidents and Popes behave humbly. We know that they can drop the pose any time. But Jesus could not drop the pose. It was no pose. Once he made the choice to drain the cup of suffering, there was no turning back. Jesus bent to the basin because a fully human being could find no other way of expressing sublime love.Roger Swenson in ‘The Serious Season’ The man with no shoesIn the winter of 1990, I was asked to appear on a television talk show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At the end of our first day of taping, I was on my way back to my plush hotel when I saw something I’d never seen before. Lying on the sidewalk against a building in four inches of snow was a man sleeping with only a cardboard blanket to keep him from being completely exposed to the freezing cold. What really broke my heart was when I realized that he wore no shoes or socks. I thought to stop and help him but was not quite sure what to do. As the traffic light turned green, it seemed life was demanding that I move along. So I did and I promptly forgot about the man on the street. Several days later, I was having coffee and Danish in the green room at the station. All of the “Important” people had left the room and it was just me and the janitor remaining. He always had a smile to give to everyone. When I asked him how he was feeling today, he told me that he’d been having to ride his bike to work in the snow and that he’d been feeling rather sorry for himself…that is, until he saw a man sleeping down on the corner of Yonge Street and Bloor with just a piece of cardboard for covering from the cold and no shoes. I almost choked on my Danish as I heard him go on to relate how he was so moved with compassion for the man that he went around the corner to a store and bought the man a pair of socks and shoes. “The smallest deed always exceeds the grandest of intentions.”Fr. Sudac in ‘Hear His Voice’ May our devotion to the Eucharist be seen in our service to our fellow humans! 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.
| | | | Net For Life | | |
