The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
“He loved His own . . . He loved them to the end,” and in His final hours spent intimately with his beloved Apostles, He desired to give them the greatest proof of His love. The Last Supper narrative is marked by such powerful intimacy: Jesus gets down on His knees to wash the feet of His disciples, He institutes the Bread of Life, and therefore He also institutes the ministerial Priesthood — all celebrated on this Holy Thursday! But also, a sense of painful anguish lingers in the background, in our hearts, and in the coming scenes this Triduum. We know that Peter, God’s chosen foundational rock, is about to deny his Lord, all of the disciples, except the beloved one, are about to abandon Him as He journeys towards His death, and Judas the Iscariot is about to exchange the Incarnate Son of God in return for meager coins.
In Jesus’ final hours, He knows that He is surrounded by the treachery of men, by deeply rooted ingratitude, and by belligerent rebellion. Although faced by all of this, He continues to meet infidelity in its face and proceeds to institute the Eucharist to reveal His infinite love for mankind to the end. God, in His merciful love, meets deception with the Sacrament of perfect charity. At this moment when humanity is preparing to enter into a dark abyss that brings our Lord to Calvary, He does nothing but loves in return, to the point of dying for us on the Cross — but also to the point of giving us food which will nourish us for the rest of our lives! He willingly chooses to feed mankind with His very own Flesh and Blood; and although death is about to claim Him temporarily, the Eucharist promises an eternal preservation of His living presence in the world. Is this not proof of a God that is madly in love with each and every one of us? We have a God that chooses to love despite our shortcomings!
In noticing the Apostles that were about to go from a final supper with their Teacher to various places of hiding, denial, and betrayal — I can’t help but to notice myself. I notice my broken, sinful human nature. So often have I hid from God, especially when I fear his invitation for me to be more courageous and accepting of myself. Far too often have I denied Him as the supreme Lord of my life, particularly in the various moments where I worship the idols of my life such as my material possessions and my insecurities. And way too often do I go about betraying my King through the recurring sins of my life that have to get confessed over and over again.
Despite my relatability to the treachery in the Apostles, the Lord continues to choose to remain with me through the Eucharist that perpetuates His real presence until the end of time. And even better: he chooses to enter into this broken, little soul that so often hides, denies, and betrays Him. All because He loves so limitlessly! O Jesus, please help me fathom the immensity of this love which led You to give us the Eucharist, this love that You love Your own with, and This love that will love until the end.
Zinjin Iglesia is a seminarian for the Diocese of Arlington, VA studying Theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. He enjoys all things coffee, good eats, kombucha brewing, the art of storytelling, and encountering God through beauty.