Today is the start of the Triduum, the three days leading up to Easter, and tonight, I attended my first Holy Thursday mass. It might have been my favorite mass of all time, a wonderful commemoration of Jesus.
My grandma has always told me how she loves watching the priests wash people’s feet at this mass.
Tonight, I got to understand just how beautiful that really is.
What would you do if you knew you were having your last meal? I’d imagine most people would want to throw a huge party and get lots of attention and stuff their faces with decadent food.
But look what Jesus did. For the Last Supper, which we remember today, he gathered his 12 disciples together and washed their feet and told them to eat his flesh and drink his blood. He offered himself to them so that their sins would be forgiven. Wow. How much more humble could a last supper be?
To reenact the Last Supper, the priests washed parishioners feet and then served us the eucharist and wine, which became Jesus’ flesh and blood. We proceeded into the lounge, singing “Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” The lounge was dark. Four candles lit an altar where the eucharists were brought in by a priest and placed in a box and draped with a white cloth with a cross on it. Then, the priests proceeded out of the lounge, and people were left to pray in a complete and gorgeous silence. I heard sniffles around me, and I found my eyes watering as I tried to grasp the endless love of Jesus in offering himself so humbly at his last meal on earth. A leader so great, a teacher so powerful, God and man, so loving and healing - washed the feet of those who served him. What an incredible statement to make.
I also found myself on the verge of tears because I felt so in love with Jesus and with this service, and I thought of my cousins and how I want so badly for them to experience this. I prayed to God that they will, and I pictured them there with me.
Thanks be to God. Thanks be to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We remember and celebrate you, Lord.
Tags: blood, bread, Catholic, Christian, church, flesh, Holy Thursday, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Last Supper, mass, service, wash feet, wine
