Tonight we begin our retreat together. We have four days of blessing, a privileged opportunity to enter afresh into the events at the heart of our Christian religion. Through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday we literally take to heart the suffering, death, buriaI and resurrection of Our Saviour. This commemoration sees our lives engaging in a special way with God who so loved the world he gave his one and only Son Jesus Christ so that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
We start our retreat at the Maundy Thursday supper table for the Lord Jesus Christ; who, in the same night that he was betrayed – that is, on this night – took bread and giving God thanks; he said the blessing, broke it and gave it to his disciples saying: Take this all of you and eat of it; for this is my body which will be given up for you… do this in memory of me. By commanding us to take bread and wine in his name Jesus Christ instituted a living memorial which has continued through 80 generations and is promised to continue until the end of time for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you show the Lord's death until he comes.
This is my body... This is my blood he says indicating a love for us and for all that would reach to death and beyond. There is only one thing more powerful than death and it was first made plain at that Maundy Thursday supper table in the elements signifying separation of body and blood. That separation Our Lord made by intention on this most holy night to be accomplished the next day in his death for us upon the Cross. The resurrection fully shows this awesome mystery
In his antiphon O sacrum convivium St Thomas Aquinas, whose hymn we shall use at in the procession at the end sums up the Eucharist in these succinct words: 'O sacred feast in which we partake of Christ, his sufferings are remembered, our minds are filled with his grace and we receive a pledge of the glory that is to be ours'.
This evening we begin our celebration of the passion with the age old action of taking, blessing, breaking and sharing exactly as Jesus Christ commanded. Out of the great love with which he loved us he gave us this memorial so we could be imbued day by day with his life, and he washed his disciples' feet to underline that love.
In the foot washing Our Lord models his call to humble service but there is here as well a pointer to our redemption through the waters of baptism. Our Redeemer came to wash away our sins, which will take a lifetime and probably beyond that! The stain of sin is washed off each time we worship, pray, read his word, study, serve, reflect and seek forgiveness. Especially it occurs when we humbly confess the dirt and grime of our sins and welcome the sacrament of reconciliation.
Tonight we begin our retreat together. These four days of blessing will be cause for deep reflection in between services, opportunity to enter afresh into the events at the heart of our Christian religion: to die as Christ died but to our sins, that they be cleansed; to rise as Christ rose seeing the new nature he gave us at baptism polished up like the church silver this weekend, to sparkle more with Holy Spirit shine.
God’s love will never fade on earth because of his incarnate presence in the Eucharist and the community that bears Christ’s name from one generation to another. In this extraordinary memorial service we do not just recall Jesus, we call him, the one who suffered and died for us, into our midst as the living Lord that he is, to whom be praise with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and for ever. Amen.
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