HOMILY – HOLY THURSDAY 2006

ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA CATHOLIC CHURCH

April 13, 2006 – 7PM

May our Lord, apron on, down on his knees, give us His peace.

Touch,  the real meal deal,  remembering.

Touch:  Tonight experience water, hands, feet, bread, wine. 

Jesus asks, “May I touch you?  Water poured on tender feet, hands rub and bathe, feet are kissed.  Tonight Jesus becomes food, drink, nourishment, if we will allow it.  Touch.  You deserve to be treated that way.   Inside, we starve for it.  We want our parent, our spouse, our child, our sister, our brother, a friend a neighbor to touch us.  The one who touches thinks only of the other, not of Himself.

But things can stand in the way.  I can falsely believe the other is better than me, how dare I come?  I can falsely believe that I am fine - why should I come?  I can falsely believe that it may be better to take care of myself than to risk a bad experience with you.  Yet the example and call goes out – I am to humble myself like the man with the apron on, to give and receive love, to touch and be touched.  What are we waiting for?

The real meal deal:  All 3 readings tonight speak of a meal, of eating it, of a community gathering around a table.  When we are gathered together, not by a task to be accomplished, or because we have to be, but by God who invites us, we notice that God has called others too.  We are not alone, but come to the table as His people.

The bread is yucky, and the Hebrew people who followed God before we did, ate bitter herbs with it.  They were doing this on purpose – the food was to be “not yet” food.  They and we remember that we are en route, not arrived yet.  When we are done? THEN get the sweet bread and the basil.  The real meal can happen when the one who leads us comes back.  Until then we have work to do that He will recognize us and so we can slow down enough to notice Him.  We long for the real meal deal, but there is a “way”  to it – self sacrificing love.

Remembering: This way of life, this humble service, this self sacrifice is so worth remembering, so important to integrate into our lives, that we have been given 2 remarkable signs – the humble washing and the humble breaking and pouring in the Eucharist.  Imagine Jesus musing… “How can I help them remember sacrificial love?”

This style of remembering is not an “Oh yeah, that was swell.” It is more like, “He is STILL washing, feeding, isn’t this contagious!”

He decides to remain food, drink.  He decides we will have to continually take in His life to remember what is most important.  Imagine!  His stuff and our stuff – the same stuff.  Imagine Him touching/cleaning our feet. 

Be touched by Him, come together through His gift, and remember how He wants His world loved – by servants, not Lords.