The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the only Mass the Church is permitted to celebrate on Holy Thursday, presents us with a different picture of the Last Supper than the one we typically encounter. This version isn’t about bread and wine, it’s not about betrayal, it’s about love… it’s about service… it’s about the example Jesus establishes for us to follow. Certainly, the Last Supper was a Passover meal and our passage from Exodus reminds us of just what the Passover was all about before it was a meal. And Paul does remind us that Jesus instituted a New Covenant in his Body and Blood at the Last Supper. But Holy Thursday is, above all, about the love that Jesus has for us and the love we are to have for each other. A love that is NOT about feelings or emotions but that is all about selflessness and service.

Readings:
Gospel – John 13: 1-15
1st Reading – Exodus 12: 1-8, 11-14
Psalm 116
2nd Reading – 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26