Mass of the Lord’s Supper 2019
 
 
Dear Brothers and Sisters, as we reflect on the Great Mystery that is the Eucharist and the Holy Mass my thoughts turn to the words of Pope Saint John Paul, written in the Year of the Eucharist 2004.  At that time, he made an appeal to Catholics around the world, priests and people, that was both encouraging and demanding: The Eucharist is a great mystery! He said, and it is one which above all must be well celebrated. He went on: Holy Mass needs to be set at the centre of the Christian life and celebrated in a dignified manner by every community.  ( Mane Nobiscum Domine) .  My thoughts turn to these words because I think they are as relevant to our Church today as they were then. 
 
This evening we celebrate the great Mystery of the Lord’s Supper and First Holy Mass.   It is a good moment for us to rediscover the meaning of the Eucharist, which lifts up our hearts, sursum corda to contemplate its sublime significance.  The Eucharist is the love story of our world and the life of mankind.  The full implications of the Eucharist can only be grasped in the context of the whole of Creation, once we understand it as the rendezvous point of all human history, and the vibrant centre that gives value to the life of every person on earth. 
 
Indeed, on the institution and celebration of the Holy Mass all human history turns, and no narrative of humanity’s life on earth could ever make sense or be complete without beginning from here.
 
It is no wonder, then, that the Lord should command Moses to reset the world’s calendar anew according to the great event of the first Passover Meal that prefigured the institution of the Eucharist.  From then on the month of the Passover was to be fixed as the first of all the others.   Even, today, the global calendar of our modern world is set according to the Year of the Lord, the Anno Domini.  We live in the year 2019 because it is the 2019 ^th year of the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose Passion, Death and Resurrection, caught up for all time in the Eucharistic Feast, mark the ages of the humanity’s existence on earth.  If the Lord Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, then all Creation – even the stars and galaxies, Big Bangs and Black Holes -  turn around the Passover Event of Jesus in Jerusalem, the Lamb once slain Who lives, and Who is eternally alive,  present and saving the world in the Sacrifice of the Mass.  
 
Dear brothers and sisters, we believe in faith that, from the Beginning of Time, the Lord God was planning the Eucharist, the Sacrament of His living flesh among us, and that He had carefully prepared His Eucharistic flesh to be the unique meeting point of Creator and Creation, even as He was setting the matter and energy of the Universe in place. 
 
As the Passover approached, and His eternal plan was at long last coming to light, we see just how meticulously involved God then became in the planning and preparing of the Sacrifice of the Lamb.  He had been its eternal architect and now He would make Himself its most accomplished director.  So the Lamb - must be an animal without blemish, a male one year old; from either sheep or goats: in the preparation of the Meal the flesh is to be eaten, roasted over the fire; and with unleavened bread: the Blood was to mark the peoples’ protection – on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses: and even the dress and disposition of His people are choreographed - you shall eat it with a girdle round your waist, sandals on your feet, a staff in your hand. The Lord planned His Passover with the kind of loving care and scrupulous attention to detail that we on earth reserve only to our most precious events of family life and death.  It is all to show how this Eucharistic Celebration of God with us, His Children, means everything to Him and will be His most treasured memory of our life shared together.  In the Holy Mass, the Father’s celebration of the death of His dearly Beloved Son, and in His communion with all His children on earth, everything must be perfectly thought out and planned, and held in such a way that everything is perfect and just right.
 
Brothers and sisters, something so precious to the Lord God, so finely planned by Him down to the last detail, surely demands of us quite unique reverence and care as we, in our turn and times, come to celebrate His Holy Eucharist. 
 
Saint Paul is first to understand this.  I pass on only what I received.  He means to say he passes it on with awe and trembling, without comment, addition or subtraction, but as faithfully as he was given it.  For it is a Banquet that belongs to the Heart of God Himself, and we are merely invited guests, even if most blessed and privileged. 
 
Dear brothers, do we not ourselves need to rediscover our disposition and reverence before the ritual of the Sacred Eucharist, and approach it a little more carefully prepared?  Do we always come with the girdle of obedient Faith around our waist, with the sandals of willing discipleship on our feet, and with the staff of the loving reverence for the Lord’s Holy Church in our hands?
 
Saint Paul advises the Church in Corinth to: Make an examination of yourselves and only then eat of the Bread and drink of the Chalice, for whoever eats the Bread or drinks the Chalice of the Lord in an unworthy manner eats and drinks of his own condemnation. The Lord had previously advised Moses that any unworthy celebration of His ritual would have to answer to the destroying plague of the Angel of Death.  Even Jesus, as He was celebrating the Last Supper, warned that not all who were present were clean and that one would betray him. 
 
Brothers and sisters, should we, in our turn then not examine ourselves to see that there is no betrayal of the Lord or His Church hidden within; no deadly sin on our souls, no lack of belief, no slovenliness in our preparation of the altar and vessels, books and vestments, no lack of respect in our own attire,  and, if there is, let the Lord wash our feet.  We will then, in His cleansing, be worthy to eat of our salvation. 
 
We can be confident that when we come with loving affection, grateful hearts, cleansed souls and in good disposition to the Lord’s Supper the Lord’s blessings will be truly immeasurable upon us.  He will spare us from Eternal Death in His dying, cleanse our feet from the sins and disappointments of life, feed us with the finest wheat of communion with the Father, and open us to Life with Him forever.
 
We turn to Our Blessed Mother, Whose Yes brought into Creation the Precious Body of the Lord.  In the words of Pope Saint John Paul: The Eucharistic Bread which we receive is the spotless flesh of her Son, and so , sustained by Mary, may the Church come to acknowledge ever more fully the Eucharist as the source and summit of our entire life.
 
Ave verum corpus, natum ex Maria Virgine, Esto nobis praegustatur mortis in examine.