Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday Reflection
One of the greatest struggles we will experience this Easter is not being able to gather with family and friends for a meal. When we look around the table and see people eating, we feel connected.  We realize we are loved and that we love. We belong.  That is what Jesus was experiencing the sacred night we call Holy Thursday.  Jesus gathered with his friends for the most important meal in the Jewish year.  It was Passover.  What made this meal even more precious for Jesus, was knowing that very soon he would have to face suffering and death.  And yet when he asks the disciples to remember him John’s gospel tells us Jesus washes the feet of those gathered.  When he has finished, he rises and says, “...as I have done for you, you should also do.”  This Holy Thursday our hearts ought to be filled with thanksgiving. We need to offer our gratitude for all those who are washing our feet during this pandemic: the nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers and police, the people restocking shelves, cashiers, truckers, and so many more.  The other thought is how are we washing the feet of others? Perhaps, because of our confinement we are being called to be prayer companions. Ask God to choose a person that needs help and throughout the day, pray for her/him.

Holy Thursday Prayer
God, our loving Father, we begin these sacred days, with our hearts overflowing with thanksgiving.  Because you so loved the world, you sent your Son to us.  On this night we begin the walk with Jesus to his death.  We recall his physical suffering.  In the long hours awaiting his death, Jesus lives through the heartbreaking experience of being alone.  He is separated from those who chose to stand by and aware of those who ran in fear.  Only in you could he find comfort and peace.  As we experience the “aloneness” of separation from human connection, give us the strength, oh God, to find comfort and peace in you.  We pray for each other that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and in his Body on Earth, his Church will help us to know that your faithfulness will surround us as you hold us in the palm of your hand.  Amen