On the night before He
died, Jesus gave us the greatest gift He could possibly give us: His gave us very
self, present in the Eucharist. In order to provide this gift in the future,
Our Lord ordained His apostles to be priests and bequeathed to them the power
to confect the Most Blessed Sacrament. This evening, therefore, has a twofold
celebration: that of the Eucharist and of the Sacred Priesthood.
As a priest, I have had the
opportunity to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in so many wonderful and
varied places. Nothing is better, however, than the lovely chapels of our religious
sisters. In many of their chapels, they have a sign that says, “Priest of God,
offer this Mass as though it were your first Mass, your last Mass, your only
Mass.”
Those words have always
stuck with me and inspired me. And so, if you would open your heart for a few
moments, I want to reflect on those words – first … last … only – and perhaps by
the end, we will be much closer to the celebration before us.
First.
Do you remember your first
communion? I do. It was in 1988. My brothers are about six and eight years
older than I am and I got their hand-me-downs. So at my first communion in
1988, I was rocking what was fashionable … in 1979. I wore a sky blue suit with
sky blue pants and tan shoes. Everyone else had the khakis-and-navy-blue blazer
combo that was standard for the time. So, needless to say, the body, blood,
soul, and divinity were not the foremost thought on my little conscience.
But I do remember being
excited. It was new. And I knew it was important: we were going to have a party
and my grandparents were going to be there. And all of the pictures. Excitement
and expectation permeated everything about the day.
Even before that day, I
will admit that I had been given the grace to believe that the Eucharist was
miraculous. I remember being five years old and seeing the priest give out holy
communion from the communion bowl (formally called a “ciborium”). I had heard
about the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, too, so I
wondered how the priest had enough host to feed so many people. I didn’t know
about the tabernacle and that is where the “leftovers” are kept. So, I
naturally figured that when a priest gave out a host from his ciborium, another
one miraculously appeared.
For Peter and the
Apostles, this evening is their First Communion. The First Communion of all First
Communions. Several months prior to this moment, Jesus had prepared Peter. In
the small town of Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee (Capernaum
was Peter’s hometown), Jesus taught in a synagogue and entire crowds heard Jesus
say that “unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you
have no life within you” (see the Gospel of John, chapter 6). When Jesus said
this, His Jewish audience would have been absolutely scandalized. Cannibalism
was a quick way to the pits of hell.
What they did not see was
that Jesus was completing what had been prefigured by the Passover Lamb during
Moses’ time in Egypt. At that time, the blood of the sacrificial lamb would be
smeared on the horizontal and vertical doorposts and then the lamb at to be
eaten. Only then would the angel of death pass by. Jesus is the new Passover
Lamb whose blood would be smeared on the horizontal and vertical beams of the
Cross. And … if He was really the new Passover Lamb, His flesh would have to be
eaten.
Peter and the crowds did
not understand this. And so the crowds left Jesus. They had taken Jesus
literally. And they had understood correctly. Jesus did not correct them or
tell them He was just speaking figuratively. He lets them go. And then He turns
to Peter and says, “Will you go as well?”
Peter had seen two
miracles the day before. First, Jesus had multiplied loaves and fishes; and
second, Jesus had walked on water. So Peter replies, “Lord, to whom shall we
go. We are convinced that you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
Let me translate that.
Peter is saying, “Jesus, I have no idea how you are going to give us your flesh
to eat and your blood to drink. But I saw you walk on water last night and
miraculously feed the crowds right before that. So, I believe you can do it. I
just don’t know how.”
Tonight is the answer to
Peter. Jesus takes bread and says “This is body. Take and eat.” And then He
takes the chalice and says, “And this is my blood. Take and drink.”
That was the First Mass.
Last.
It is odd, then, that we
would call this evening the “Last Supper.” In this night of firsts, the focus
is on the fact that this is the last. And why is it the last? Because, tomorrow
Jesus is going to die.
What would you do if you
knew tomorrow you were going to die?
For me, I wouldn’t parse
words. I would tell the people around me that I love them, that I was sorry,
and whatever else was most important. If I could give gifts, I would give the
greatest gifts I could possibly give. Nothing left behind.
Jesus knew—Jesus knew that
this was His first Mass and His last Mass. He knew He was going to die tomorrow.
And so He gave His best, the best gift of all gifts, the clearest expression of
His love. So deep was His love for us, so passionate was His heart for us.
But the Apostles *sigh* --
they were arguing about who was the best. And Judas, he left the first Mass
early.
Can you imagine the pain that
this caused our Lord? The Apostles had received
communion, but they weren’t in
communion. Jesus was giving His heart, but their hearts were far from Him.
Oh, Apostles! If only you
knew! Wouldn’t things be different if you knew what was about to happen? Peter,
do not take this for granted. Do not worry about the other things of life. Let
your Lord pour His heart into yours!
Only.
For century upon century,
it has been understood that there is enough grace in just one host—enough grace
in just one holy communion—to get you to heaven. When you receive the Eucharist,
you are receiving heaven: you are receiving Jesus. And He is enough, in that
one Eucharist, that if it were your only communion, there would be enough grace
in it to bring you to heaven.
St. John Chrysostom,
highlighting this grace, said that when we receive the Eucharist, we receive
the fire of love such that we become like fire-breathing lions that terrify the
devil. I love that. Only one communion can turn you in to a fire-breathing
lion. *turns to the altar servers* Hear that, boys?
And to the adults, I say
to you: when you receive Jesus, His body and blood mingles with your body and
blood. And the two become one flesh.
Those words are used at marriages. But Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians
(fifth chapter), connects them to the Eucharist. When you receive Jesus, you
are being united to Him – so that what God
has joined, no man must separate. Husbands and wives, on their wedding day,
say “You and none other. Only you.”
If you knew that you only
had one moment to express your love to your beloved today, would it be any
different than how you did it yesterday?
I really do not think we
understand how powerful the Eucharist is. When couples get married in churches
(as they should), it is not like they are getting married with just a Eucharist
bonus. No, the marriage flows from
the Eucharist. The couple getting married is a reflection of the Eucharist, of the communion of Jesus and His
bride the Church.
And our school. It is not
like we have school that happens to have a parish church with the Eucharist.
No, because we have the Eucharist – from that
flows our apostolates like our school. And our athletics, too – it is not like
we have teams that just happen to pray to Jesus. No, it is because of Jesus
that we have the ability to glorify Him with our body in the wonderfulness of
sport.
Yes, if we were to have
only the Eucharist, we would have everything.
“Priest of God, offer this
Mass as though it were your first Mass, your last Mass, and your only Mass.”
On the night before He
died, that’s exactly what Jesus did: He offered His first Mass, His Last, and
His Only.
Lovely!
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