On Holy Thursday, April 17, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper was celebrated at St. Patrick Cathedral in Harrisburg by Bishop Timothy Senior, beginning the Easter Triduum.
The Mass of the Lord’s Supper celebrates the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist and the institution of the Priesthood by Jesus Christ. It is also during this Mass that the bishop washes the feet of 12 parishioners in commemoration of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. The Mass concludes with the Blessed Sacrament being placed in a special repository in the Cathedral and the faithful keeping watch in prayer, which recalls the disciples staying with our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane.
“Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
This is what Christ tells His 12 disciples after the Last Supper, according to the Gospel of John. Jesus speaks these words to His disciples, knowing Peter will soon deny Him three times and Judas will betray Him, yet He still washes their feet.
Bishop Senior washed the feet of 12 of the faithful on Holy Thursday in front of the altar after delivering his homily.
“We know that the celebration of the Last Supper, Jesus with the apostles and what we have come to understand as the institution of the Eucharist is not just a one-time event. It’s a lived reality,” the bishop said. “The sacrifice of Jesus continues to give us that great gift of His Precious Body and Blood.”
The Easter Triduum begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday and goes through the commemoration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday and the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday. It is the summit of the liturgical year.
Celebrating Holy Mass on Easter Sunday morning at St. Patrick Cathedral, Bishop Senior encouraged the faithful to “open our hearts” to the Truth that God gave His only Son to suffer, die and rise from the dead in order to “break through the power of sin and death so that we would be able to hold on to the hope of Eternal Life.”
He also invited the congregation to “have the faithfulness of the women who discover the empty tomb.
“I truly believe that God desires that each one of us have that hope rekindled in our lives. Who of us doesn’t need that hope, that glimmer of hope that comes in the Resurrection of Jesus? We’re not defined by our sinfulness or the brokenness that can characterize our lives. We’re not defined by our problems or anxieties. In the midst of that reality of hope, we can hold on to the truth of Jesus and His love for us,” Bishop Senior said.
“The faith is alive. People are discovering anew the truth of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection from the dead,” he said, pointing to the 75 candidates and 150 catechumens who came into the full Communion of the Church in the Diocese at Easter, to recent visits with Catholic Campus Ministry students, and to the life-affirming ministries in the Diocese.
“On this Easter morning, think about what gives you hope, what inspires you, what reminds you that we’re not defined by sin, death and evil but, as human beings, are created in the image and likeness of God,” he said. “We are beloved sons and daughters of God, and nothing can change that. God is with us.”
(Photos by Chris Heisey, The Catholic Witness.)
By Chris Heisey, The Catholic Witness
