Maundy Thursday
Holy Thursday – Renewal
What is it about Holy Thursday that makes it stand out for us – apart from the washing of the feet or the finishing our service in the Parish Centre?
Holy Thursday is often seen or used as day of renewal; a day of refreshment and recommitment in our church lives. A time when we can review where we are at spiritually and consider where we are going or where we need to be and most importantly how we are going to get there. It is a time for reconsideration of our spiritual goals and priorities. It is a time for us to think hard about who we are individually and how we are impacting on others and whether this meets with our connections, our wants and wishes within God’s family and then to say Yes to God.
We will see today our parish priest recommit himself to his parish, to his parishioners, to his vows and to his bishop. He will take time today to review his life of service, maybe much as we each one of us does at New Year – to see where he has been strong and do more of the same and to see where he has been less successful and see where he could do better. And then through prayer and the grace of God, after full and proper consideration, he will promise and commit to do more; to be more; to pray more and to offer more. From today and with the grace of God he will say Yes.
We will also see our Eucharistic Ministers recommit themselves to their service of support to their parish, parishioners, priest and to Christ. These are mainly a group of people who have been engaged in this service for many, many years who have served at mass each weekend and sometimes during the week and additionally have taken communion to the housebound, the sick, the lonely and the dying. From today after full and proper consideration and with the grace of God most of these will recommit themselves; they will renew their promises to serve and will offer themselves for refreshed, renewed and recommitted delivery. They will say Yes.
They, like us all, are getting themselves ready for the coming feast of Easter. They are getting ready for the upcoming Triduum – our three days of Easter. Yes – three days. Three days when we recollect Christ’s Last Supper, his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, his farcical and heart-rending trial, his cruel and torturous walk to Calvary, his death on the cross and his resurrection. His Yes to God at every considered and decided stage.
These three days need some proper preparation. They need careful consideration. They require our deliberate engagement to the scenes, to the sufferings and to our Saviour within each of the situations. They need us to be prepared spiritually, physically and emotionally so that we can experience anew the gift of the Eucharist today at the Last Supper; the suffering and sorrow of tomorrow, Good Friday and the everlasting joy that comes with Easter Sunday, the resurrection of Our Lord and the renewal of our Baptismal promises as we say again, Yes to God.
It is not enough to offer a blind or ill-considered Yes: we have to know that our Yes encompasses all and everything – at anytime and anywhere. We are trying to make our Yes an echo of Christ’s Yes to his Father – “Not my will but thine be done.” His an offering complete and whole: ours a faint echo of this. His resulting from his prayers and meditation – ours resulting from what?
Like the priest and our Eucharistic Ministers, we each have to think about where we are at and what we are looking for from our very lives, not just this service or this Triduum. How are we fixed as servants of the servants of God? How do we stand as our brother’s and sister’s keepers?
Especially today and during this horrible and horrendous health crisis: how are we showing our Yes to Christ; our Yes to God? What have we done to demonstrate a renewed and refreshed faith, recommitted and reconnected with and through our actions of love: our actions of Yes?
I was saddened to hear of the death of Bill Withers last weekend as he sang one of my favourite songs of all time – Lean On Me – a song, if ever there was one, for our times. We all need to lean on each other during these times but at any time and at every time, we need to lean on our heavenly Father. We need to go to him with our prayers, our wants and our needs and we also need to go to him with our – Yesses – our renewed and reinvigorated recommitments to him that we will do everything in our limited powers to show his love for us alive in our love for each other. In and through our actions – whether these are formal acts of supportive service within the church or services or less formal in how we care for and look after each other, especially those in most need.
Lord, I love you with my whole heart. Let my Yes to you reflect my life, my living, my loving and my praying. Let my Yes to you echo your Yes to your Father in heaven, “Not my will but thine be done”.
Lean On Me
Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you won't let show
You just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
You just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on