Homily for Maundy Thursday

Tonight, we find ourselves gathered together again to recall and celebrate the first

time Our Lord celebrated the Eucharist, at the occasion of a Passover meal. This

was no mere act of routine. The whole of Christ’s life had been building up to this

moment: “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end”.

It’s out of the great love of His heart that he now gives us three gifts: the Eucharist,

the priesthood, and the command of service.

We don’t always grasp everything fully the first time round, and Peter is no

different. First he objects in principle to the Lord washing his feet. Then, once it is

explained to him, he wants to go all in, going perhaps a bit too far then in the other

direction, and needs it explaining to him again. So let’s delve more deeply into the

Eucharist, the priesthood and the command of service.

I was reading a non-Catholic website a while ago – I won’t say which one it was –

and I was a bit annoyed, because it misrepresented Catholic belief. It said the bread

and wine represented the Body and Blood of Jesus. That’s completely wrong –

that’s a Protestant belief. The Catholic belief is a bit like the Ronseal advert: “It

does exactly what it says on the tin”. Jesus said: “This is my Body” – and it is His

Body. He said: “This is ... my Blood” – and it is His Blood. There’s no

“representation” about it. A change takes place. If that change did not take place, I

would be guilty of idolatry, treating ordinary bread and wine as if it were God. Jesus

said, this is my Body, and this is my Blood, and when those words are said, God

works and changes bread and wine into Christ. How? We don’t know. It is a

miracle. And there have been other miraculous events, when hosts have turned to

flesh, or dripped blood, as if to remind people that Christ is here and He hasn’t left

us, that what He said all those years ago still holds today. Jesus is here, so we treat

the Blessed Sacrament as God – hence all the acts of reverence, the bowing the

genuflecting, the using of special vessels lined with gold to hold the Lord and so on.

He is here, because He loves us and wants to be with us. “[Having] loved his own

who were in the world, he loved them to the end” – and He gave us the Eucharist.

In order for the Eucharist to be celebrated, He had to also give us the priesthood.

This is a great gift to the Church, one that we also can get to appreciate ever more

deeply.

There was a time when many families would pray that one of their sons would be

called by God to be a priest. Today it’s not as commonplace as it once was. And for

a teenage son, there perhaps isn’t always the same interest, in part because of peer-

pressure – but some of the reasons people give, these other attractions away from the

priesthood have always been there. If we love the Lord, we have to ask sincerely for

Him to show us what our vocation is, and to follow it. Lest I risk being a hypocrite,

I must admit that my own experience was that I needed the time on retreat first to

prepare myself to be able to say yes when the call came, and it came whilst praying

before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar in a chapel in Fatima. You see,

Our Lady also has a role in these things. St John Vianney said that the priesthood is

the love of the heart of Jesus. The Church teaches that the priesthood is another way

in which Christ is present amongst His People. Now, surely, that could make anyone

with a sense of calling feel unworthy. That is only natural and right. But it is His

call and He knows what He is doing. It’s a bit like as St John the Baptist said: He

must increase, and I must decrease. It’s a lifelong journey for any priest – we all

have our imperfections. Somebody once said: I won’t go to church – it’s all full of

hypocrites. To which someone else replied: well, I’m sure one more won’t make

much difference. It might sound a bit harsh to say the same about the priesthood.

But if God calls, then we have to trust that He will use His carpentry skills to turn

this block of wood into something resembling Himself, even if people do

occasionally complain of splinters.

St John Vianney also said that the priest is not for himself – he is for you. Service is

at the heart of being a priest, but service is also something that all Christians share

in. Perhaps like the Eucharist and the priesthood, it is sometimes under-rated.

Service might be seen as inconvenient – I would rather please myself. We do need

time for rest. But if we are full of the love of God, there are times when we cannot

to anything but serve; we can’t leave people alone to struggle on their own. Christ

sends His Church: His priests, his people, and also his religious, to serve a broken

world. JFK famously said: “ask not what you country can do for you – ask what

you can do for your country.” But Jesus effectively said it first, not through words,

but through actions. He washed the disciples’ feet, He gave us the Eucharist, and in

the process, gave us the priesthood. And it’s all down to love. “[Having] loved his

own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” If he could have done more

for us, He would have done so. We are being tested in faith, hope and love. He

waits to see how we will respond.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk