"Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his
hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved
his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." The reader of
this verse from St John's Gospel is brought to understand that a great
event is about to take place. The introduction, full of tender
affection, is similar to that which we find in St Luke: "I have
earnestly desired," says our Lord, "to eat this Passover with you before
I suffer."
Let us begin by asking the Holy Spirit, from this moment on, to give us
the grace to understand every word and gesture of Christ. Because we
want to live a supernatural life, because our Lord has shown his desire
to give himself to us as nourishment for our soul, and because we
acknowledge that only he has "words of eternal life."
Faith makes us profess in the words of Peter that "we have come to
believe and to know that you are the Christ, the Son of God." It is this
faith, together with our devotion, that leads us to emulate the daring
of John, to come close to Jesus and to rest on the breast of the
Master, who loved those who were with him ardently, and who was to love
them, as we have just read, to the end.
Any words we might use to explain the mystery of Holy Thursday are
inadequate. But it is not hard to imagine the feelings of Jesus' heart
on that evening, his last evening with his friends before the sacrifice
of Calvary.
Think of the human experience of two people who love each other, and yet
are forced to part. They would like to stay together forever, but duty —
in one form or another — forces them to separate. They are unable to
fulfil their desire of remaining close to each other, so man's love —
which, great as it may be, is limited — seeks a symbolic gesture. People
who make their farewells exchange gifts or perhaps a photograph with a
dedication so ardent that it seems almost enough to burn that piece of
paper. They can do no more, because a creature's power is not so great
as its desire.
What we cannot do, our Lord is able to do. Jesus Christ, perfect God and
perfect man, leaves us, not a symbol, but a reality. He himself stays
with us. He will go to the Father, but he will also remain among men. He
will leave us, not simply a gift that will make us remember him, not an
image that becomes blurred with time, like a photograph that soon fades
and yellows, and has no meaning except for those who were
contemporaries. Under the appearances of bread and wine, he is really
present, with his body and blood, with his soul and divinity."
