Published on 29 March 2024

Homily by Father Emmanuel Schwab, rector of the Sanctuary

Maundy Thursday – Year B

1st reading: Exodus 12,1-8.11-14

Psaume : 115 (116b),12-13, 15-16ac,17-18

2rd reading: 1 Corinthians 11,23-26

Gospel: John 13,1-15

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Humility. Reciprocity. Acknowledgement.

Humility first. This is something that touches Saint Thérèse very much: this humility of God who makes himself so small. In her prayer to obtain humility, which she wrote late in July 1897, Thérèse prays as follows:

O Powerful Monarch of Heaven, yes my soul finds rest in seeing you clothed in the form and nature of a slave, humble yourself to the point of washing the feet of your apostles. I then remember these words that you spoke to teach me to practice humility: “I gave you the example so that you yourself would do what I did, the disciple is no more greater than the Master…. If you understand this you will be happy practicing it. » I understand them, Lord, these words coming from your gentle and humble Heart, I want to practice them with the help of your grace.

She goes on to say:

I want to humbly lower myself and submit my will to that of my sisters, not contradicting them in anything without investigating whether or not they have the right to command me.

Most of us are not in a religious community, but perhaps we still live in a family where there are several members, perhaps we have friends, we have activities with others. others in the municipality, in the parish, in an association, what do I know? How are we able to do what others tell us in extremely simple things? I remember: with my superior at the seminary, it happened to me once, seeing him doing I don't know what, to say to him: Hey, why are you doing it this way? He answers me: And you, how would you do it? I told him how I would have done it… He immediately adopted my way of doing things. Well, in doing that, he was a teacher to me. He taught me what humility was: this capacity to not want to be right, this capacity to hear what the other may ask, may suggest.

What we celebrate in the great mystery of the Eucharist must have repercussions in the most concrete things of our existence. Jesus did not come for exceptional things in our lives: he came to transform the ordinary of our lives, to transform every minute of our time, so that at every moment, we can love each other more. . And we cannot love one another if we always want to be right, if we always want to know how to do everything, if we do not allow ourselves to be taught, if we do not accept to hear anything other than what that we think.

This humility that Thérèse contemplates in the washing of the feet, this humility that she asks for herself, in this same prayer, a little further on, she sees that it is also manifested in the mystery of the Eucharist.

O my beloved, she said, under the veil of the white Host, how gentle and humble of heart you appear to me.

There was an old Sister Clarisse in Nazareth, whom many groups went to meet and who tirelessly repeated: “Jesus made himself a little piece of bread. » And she was in awe of this humility of Jesus. When we approach the sacrament of the Eucharist, how do we contemplate this humility of God? The Word became flesh, and the Word made flesh became a little piece of bread to nourish us with his life.

Humility.

Reciprocity:

On at least two occasions, Thérèse evokes this reciprocity in relation to the mystery of the Eucharist in connection with her first communion.

She thus summarizes the spiritual experience she had during her first communion at the age of 11, when she speaks of it several years later:

Ah! how sweet was the first kiss of Jesus to my soul!… It was a kiss of love, I felt loved, and I also said: “I love you, I give myself to you forever.” » Ms A, 35r°

She understands that Jesus gives himself to her, and when she understands that Jesus gives himself to her, she understands that Jesus wants to give himself to everyone.

But what does this trigger in her? Not a selfish possession of Jesus, but a reciprocal desire to give oneself to Jesus.

She has the same reading of this reciprocal gift regarding her sister Pauline who made profession on the same day at Carmel. And she says about Pauline:

Ah! It was towards her that my thoughts went, I knew that my Pauline was in retreat like me, not so that Jesus would give himself to her, but to give herself to Jesus. Ms A, 34 In the liturgy of the Eucharist, before the great Eucharistic prayer, we bring the bread and wine to the altar. This is what we call the offertory. What does the offertory gesture consist of? It consists of placing the bread and the wine on the altar. But what does the altar represent? You have seen that it is adorned with light. You saw that the priests kissed the altar. You saw that we incensed it... because the altar was consecrated and this altar is one of the signs of the presence of Jesus. Placing on the altar the bread and the wine which, symbolically, represent all of our humanity, is to give ourselves to Jesus. In this gesture of the offertory, the spiritual attitude that we must learn to live is truly to offer ourselves to Jesus, so that Jesus offers us with him to the Father. Like a kind of gift in two stages: we give ourselves to Jesus so that he takes us into his offering and gives us through him, with him and in him, to the Father.

Do we have this desire to give ourselves to Jesus? Do we express to Him in our prayer: “Lord Jesus, I give myself to you”? Do we seek to live this gift of ourselves to Jesus, through our obedience to his word, through what we try to live in imitation of Jesus? Giving ourselves to Jesus so that he gives us to the Father, giving ourselves to Jesus so that he makes us capable of loving as he loved us...

Humility.

Reciprocity.

And finally recognition:

One of the deepest driving forces of what I understand about Thérèse's life is gratitude to God, to Jesus. Gratitude. She understood that Jesus achieved everything. She understood that salvation is a free gift. She understood that mercy springs from the heart of the Lord, and that he only expects one thing, and that is for us to welcome this mercy. And this dazzled Thérèse’s heart; thus his life becomes a response of gratitude. She expresses this in many places, but notably in manuscript B:

O Divine Word, you are the adored Eagle that I love and who attract me! it is you who rushed towards the land of exile and wanted to suffer and die in order to attract souls to the bosom of the Eternal Home of the Blessed Trinity, it is you who ascended towards the inaccessible Light which will henceforth be your abode, it is you who still remain in the valley of tears, hidden under the appearance of a white host...

So Thérèse contemplates the Lord in his resurrection and in his Ascension - the Lord who sits at the right hand of the Father - and at the same time she says: but it is you also who dwell among us in the mystery of the Eucharist . She continues:

Eternal Eagle, you want to nourish me with your divine substance, me, poor little being, who would return to nothingness if your divine gaze did not give me life at every moment... O Jesus! leave me in the excess of my gratitude, let me tell you that your love goes to the point of madness... How can you expect, in the face of this Madness, that my heart does not rush towards you? How could my confidence have limits?… Ms B 05 This gratitude present in Thérèse's heart makes her want to rush towards Jesus. But how does she reach out to Jesus? It's not only

in prayer and in meditation on the Holy Scriptures, it is also and very much in concretely lived fraternal charity.

And finally, these three terms that I noted at the very beginning of my homily: humility, reciprocity, recognition, are three ingredients which lead us to truly live charity.

After this Mass, when we carry the Blessed Sacrament to the resting place where we can worship until midnight — the basilica will remain open until that time — I invite you to keep these three dimensions in mind: humility of Christ, the reciprocity of our love, and our recognition which allows us to launch ourselves into charity.

This is what we are called to live in this Pascal mystery into which we enter, because we were created by the love of God, we are created for love and there is no other meaning to our life than loving without measure.

Amen