Holy Thursday 2 April 26 Lingering Love

Exodus 12:1-8,11-14; Psalm 116; 1Cor 11:23-36; John 13:1-15

Love lingers.

This Holy Thursday, as we enter the Sacred Paschal Triduum, we begin the Liturgical Celebration with the Mandatum earlier.

Love is expressed through humble service. The command is to do the same for others. Am I able to serve? Am I humble in serving others? Am I humble enough to let others serve me and attend to my needs? Am I humble enough to accept not only my limitations but also the love of others expressed in service?

Love lingers.

Here, at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, Christ offers Himself as food— nourishment in Word and Sacrament. Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Christ assures us that God’s people have food for life across generations—food that gives and sustains life for a lifetime until we are called to the eternal fullness of life in God. Jesus himself states that this is unlike the manna in the desert. The Bread of Love and Life truly nourishes and sustains.

Love lingers.

Christ is both the food and the host who offers it. At the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, as Christ offers Himself as nourishing food, He also instituted the Sacrament of the Ministerial Priesthood—the ordained minister who makes the Holy Eucharist available to God’s people. Jesus assures that the People of God are nourished. He also entrusts the care of God’s people to those from the flock. The Church also involves extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers—non-ordained but instituted to assist in Eucharistic liturgies.

Love lingers.

As we partake of the Eucharistic Lord, we become what we receive—the Body of Christ—in communion with the entire People of God, the communion of saints.

Love lingers. Jesus ensures that love remains by exhorting us not only to remember but also to continuously make Him present among us, for us, with us, and through us—God’s beloved people, for Love Lingers.

“That in all things, God may be glorified.” (1 Peter 4:11 / RB 57.9)