Holy Thursday, April 17, 2025 - Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15

I don't like to speak from the ambo, but tonight I will, just to make sure I get it right.

The Roman Missal has a terce instruction for Holy Thursday. “Give a brief talk about the Eucharist, the priesthood and the command to "love one another." Tall order!

I’m going to begin with an unflattering story about me. Last Saturday morning, we were getting the church ready for the Palm Sunday masses. An old man came into church. He saw the box of palm back by the baptistry and grabbed a big handful. I went back and asked him what he was doing. I told him that the palm wasn't blessed yet, he should come to one of the three masses and get some after I blessed it. He said, "So, I can't take it?"

And here's where it went off the rails. I said, "No. Put it back." He asked me, "Are you a priest?" When I said yes, he said, I don't see any difference whether I bless it or you bless it," and he stormed out of the church.

I had just broken Christ's commandment to "love one another as I have loved you." I should have let him have the palm. Who cares if it's blessed or not. It may be his only connection left to Jesus, the last glimmer of his Catholic faith. But I was high-handed, officious, lacking in empathy - all that is worst about the clergy.

The moment the door closed, I went into freefall. I actually panicked about my priesthood. I felt 56 years of ministry blow up in my face. Maybe he was right - there really was no difference between him and me. 

I had to remind myself of who the church says I am. The Second Vatican Council spoke about the Priesthood of the Laity - how you co-offer the one, eternal sacrifice with me and have your own proper place within the body of Christ. Then the decree said that our priesthood - yours and mine - differ in kind and not merely in degree. Our catechism taught us, years ago, that the sacrament of Holy Orders imprints our soul "indelibly," just as does our Baptism and our Confirmation. For the sake of the Body of Christ, for your salvation and my own, an ordained priest becomes, in our time and place, an "alter christus," - another Christ, or, better, an alternate Christ.

When I bless an object, whether it's palm or rosary beads or a medal or statue, I’m not really blessing the object. The blessing is for the person who will use it. And the purpose of my blessing is to indicate that this object becomes "sacramental." My authority sets it apart as a suitable prompt or support to one's   relationship with God. So, yeah, my blessing is different from yours, sir.

Notice how I slipped the word "sacramental" into our conversation. We don't hear that word much anymore. And it should not be confused with "sacrament;" that's the word for the seven grace-giving rituals of the church. But there is a connection between the two words. It's in the root meaning of the word - "mysterion," in Greek, a hidden reality. 

Later in St. John's gospel, the risen Jesus will appear in the upper room. Greeting his shattered disciples with a gentle "shalom," "peace," he shows them his hands and his side - the terrible price paid for that peace. Then he breathes on them and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." All the seven sacraments are there in that simple command - a "hidden reality."

From among the members of the Body of Christ, some offer themselves for priestly service. The essential "service" we perform is to gather the church in a particular time and place around the table of the Lord, to lead God's people in prayer to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit and to make present the food of Eucharist.   

The Eucharist is at the heart of that mystery, that "hidden reality." The Eucharist creates the church so that the church may create the Eucharist.