4/17/2014

Holy Thursday: April 17, 2014: “Do this in memory of me”!

Holy Thursday: 
April 17, 2014: 
“Do this in 
memory 
of me”!



Traditionally we call today it Maundy Thursday in which Maundy means
                     “commands”. 


The commands that Jesus gave on this day are: 

Take it and eat it, take this and drink from it, do this in memory of me and lastly "if I have washed your feet, so you must do this". 


The first command refers to the "Institution of the Eucharist", Christ’s gift to the Church. The Eucharist is a call to and a grace for service. 

Jesus ‘took’ his body to many places physically to Galilee, Bethany, Jericho, Bethsaida, Canaan, Nazareth, and Jerusalem and ‘gave’ his body to people who needed him most. As James Martin SJ would say in his book Jesus the Pilgrimage, “He brought himself to people saying, in essence, “this is my body". "Here I am”. 

Jesus offered himself to and for God the Father as well as for imperfect humanity.   

So we are called to do this in memory of Him, to give ourselves as Jesus did. That is to bring our bodies – ourselves – to places where we are needed, to imperfect people, to unwelcome people, to hospital, to broken homes, to broken communities, to the excluded, the LGBT, to prisoners, to slums, to government offices, to corporate America, to Red street, to Wall Street, to Main street, to Calcutta’s of our own towns and villages and say “this is my body given up for you”. 

This is giving of ourselves in love to God and to others. 
Do this in memory of Him who loved us totally. The Eucharist is meant to lead us out of the Church and into the humble service of others. 

Pope Francis today will wash feet of the mentally ill people in Rome. 

St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote: “Love shows itself more in action than in words”. 
So the washing of the feet by the Master, the Lord on His knees is an act of service, of humility, of becoming equal to the disciples, no superior or inferior, but mere servants in service to God. 



Raymond Brown calls it a "loving act of abasement”.
This is ‘becoming what we receive’ at the Eucharist. So Eucharist is a meal, a memory, a service and sharing. It is worship, it is nourishment, it is giving, it is becoming, it is living as Jesus did and asked us to do. 

What is a powerful experience, what a mystery, what a gift, a gift par excellence. 

Let us learn to appreciate what a gift we have in the Eucharist, what a powerful mandate we have in it, what an example of service we have from our Lord who gave himself to us imperfect humanity. 

Happy priesthood day to all the priests that includes all the baptized and the ordained, the men and women in the Church!


God Bless you always!
Sincerely Yours,
Rev. Fr. Cyriac Chandy Mattathilanickal, MS

Wishing you and yours A Holy Lent!
Rev. Fr. Tom Puthusseril, M.S.
Shrine Director
Message from Bishop Fulton Sheen on the Eucharist Sacrifice:


Message from Bishop Fulton Sheen on the Mass:


Luminous Mystery: The Institution of the Eucharist:



Dear Friends.... 

Please share 
with us your comments of our 

Daily Lenten Reflection.


How has it touched you?
How has it helped you in your Lenten journey?
You may post your comment here
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@
E-Mail it to us at
lasaletteshrinedirector@gmail.com 




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Dear Friends....
Please share with us your comments of our
Daily Reflections.
How has it touched you?
How has it helped you in your Lenten journey?
You may post your comment here
or confidently share with me
@
E-Mail it to us at
lasaletteshrinedirector@gmail.com

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