During the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, March 28, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., Cardinal Wilton Gregory said the Eucharist strengthens people to love and serve others as Jesus did.
The Holy Thursday Mass commemorates the Last Supper that Jesus shared with the apostles the night before his crucifixion. The Mass, including the homily, was conducted in both Spanish and English. The Gospel reading told the story of the Last Supper, when Jesus shared a Passover meal with the apostles and washed their feet.
During his homily, Cardinal Gregory spoke about the popularity of food programming, including celebrity chefs such as Julia Child and Emeril Lagasse who entertain as well as inform. Cardinal Gregory tied in the meal described in the gospel reading.
“The Exodus narrative of the first Passover that we just heard proclaimed contains an ageless recipe for freedom and for faith. Our beloved Jewish neighbors who, a month from now will themselves be celebrating their yearly feast of Passover, left a detailed account of the seder meal that prefigured the perfect Passover that Christ now entrusted to us,” Cardinal Gregory said.
He then broke down the meal that is shared, which Cardinal Gregory said is more representative of faith and salvation rather than a recipe focused on flavor.
“The first use of the blood of the slaughtered lamb that was originally shared during the Jewish Passover ceremony, we Christians believe, pointed to the blood of God’s lamb; who not only spares those living in the designated households whose doorposts are marked by that ritual blood, but the blood of this innocent lamb brings life eternal to all those living in the household of faith,” Cardinal Gregory said.
“It is a meal that confirms a relationship with the God of freedom and His people soon to be set free from slavery in Egypt,” Cardinal Gregory said.
The cardinal continued discussing what sharing in the meal means for Catholics.
“We are to care for one another, to serve one another, to tend to one another’s needs, most especially the needs of those who are poor and underprivileged,” Cardinal Gregory said. “…St. John (in today’s gospel reading) reminds us that the Eucharist is also intended to oblige us to follow Jesus in His mission of service, humble and self-effacing service to others, even to the point of washing each other’s feet.”
In his homily at the Holy Thursday Mass, the cardinal emphasized how Jesus’s gift of the Eucharist is a source of strength for people as they are called to love and serve others as Jesus did.
“Many people today like to watch food channels to learn how to cook. We Catholics everywhere listen this evening to the convivial story of the beginning of the Eucharist to remember how we are intended to live and most importantly we listen in order to learn how to use the energy that the Eucharist provides to live as Christ did in generous service to others,” Cardinal Gregory said.
The Washing of the Feet followed the homily. This tradition reflects Jesus washing the feet of his apostles at the Last Supper from the reading from the Gospel of John. Cardinal Gregory then washed and dried the feet of 12 men and women who are parishioners at St. Matthew’s Cathedral.
Following Communion, Cardinal Gregory and Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar and the priest concelebrants processed to the Chapel of St. Anthony with the Blessed Sacrament. The cathedral remained open late for those who wished to take part in the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
