The three special days of the Easter Triduum are Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. The first of these three sets the so-to-speak-table of what’s to come for the climax of our Catholic Faith. These last 40 days throughout Lent have been focused on a penitential spirit to the Holy Mountains of Easter set whole heartedly at the reception or renewal of out Baptism. This is a recommitment in our faith and belief in a Loving God who redeems and saves us through the Life, Death, and Resurrection of his Son Jesus the Christ.
Holy Thursday, as I have said, sets the Table in the immersive Life of Christ, well before His Death and resurrection to come. Christ has lived with the disciples for a good three years. He has eaten with them, journeyed with them, instructed them, worked signs and miracles, laughed, cried, loved them and yes even seems to have been annoyed with them at times. On this holy of nights Jesus shares with them one of his final intimate moments when He partakes in the Passover with His disciples. Yet before the Passover feast Jesus ritualizes to His disciples what a life of service looks like to be a disciple of His – Jesus, the bread of life, the Holy one of God, the Son of man, the Word made flesh, the Messiah, the Light to the Nations, teacher, Master, the son of a carpenter. He removes His outer garment and places a towel around His waist and proceeds to wash and dry His disciples’ feet one by one. Jesus embodies for His disciples then and now, what a true emptying of oneself in light of service looks like. He is empowering His disciples of then and His disciples of today for He tells us, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” As we approach these momentous days of the Triduum starting with Holy Thursday, let us approach with hearts empty of our own ambitions, and open to be filled with the life of Jesus.
Fr. Frank T. Natale, MSC