Holy Saturday, March 30, 2002

Father Owen's Homilies

Homily for Holy Thursday, March 28, 2002

Today Jesus celebrates a ritual meal according to Jewish custom. According to Old Tradition the Passover Lamb is killed and eaten. At this meal, the New Passover lamb, Jesus, anticipates his own death. He also leaves his body to be eaten and his blood to be drunk. He does this to feed you and me on our pilgrim way. The Old Paschal lamb fed the people of Israel for their pilgrimage across the Red Sea to the Promised Land.

But Jesus goes further. He has preached of the intimate relationship between himself and the father, between himself and us, and of our relationship to each other. He said, “ What you do to my sisters and brothers you do to me.” Jesus washes the feet of his disciples despite the protest of Peter. He is telling you and me that we must wash the feet of our brothers and sisters. In doing so we wash the feet of Jesus. It is not enough to talk about love. A Christian needs to make visible the love, which is within us. By doing this we follow the example of the Father who makes visible the Love which is God in the person, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.