Now would be a great time to watch “The Passion of the Christ” this evening with your family…
Some thoughts before we begin the Easter Triduum, this from Archbishop Comastri in Rome:
Archbishop Comastri, in this year’s meditations, was no less contemporary in looking at the sins and divisions that, he said, add weight to the cross Christ must bear.
But he also drew from Pope Benedict’s first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (‘God is Love’) to remind those who follow the Stations of the Cross that Christ’s death and resurrection are the supreme sign of God’s love and his desire to forgive.
‘In his death, Jesus filled death itself with love; he filled it with the presence of God,’ the archbishop wrote in the introduction.
He asked participants at the Colosseum to join in praying that God would break the chains that keep people from helping one another and showing concern for one another.
‘Our affluence is making us less human, our entertainment has become a drug, a source of alienation, and our society’s incessant, tedious message is an invitation to die of selfishness,’ the archbishop wrote.
Stations of the Cross this year will begin from the Roman Colosseum, where so many Christian martyrs gave their lives for their faith, and for the entertainment of the affluent Roman mob.
Holy Thursday entails a multitude of events for Christians, especially if you are of the Catholic vareity. Last Supper, First Eucharist, the institution of the priesthood, the hours of agony at Gethsemane, the betrayal of Christ, and the beginning of the Passion.
John 13:1-15
Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come
to pass from this world to the Father.
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.
The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.
So, during supper,
fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power
and that he had come from God and was returning to God,
he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples( feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
Simon Peter said to him,
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
Jesus said to him,
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
for he is clean all over;
so you are clean, but not all.”
For he knew who would betray him;
for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”