Homily – Holy Thursday – Year A – Fr Jeremiah Browne (National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies #southafrica #eswatini #Swaziland #Botswana)
Some time ago, Archbishop Weakland of Milwaukee was interviewed and asked about the challenges that young people face identifying as Catholics. He famously replied: “If younger people are having an identity problem as Catholics, I tell them to do two things: Go to Mass every Sunday, and work in a soup kitchen. If one does those two things over a period of time, then something will happen to give one a truly Catholic identity.
The altar and the marketplace – these two – must be related to each other; when they are, one works better, and one prays better.”
That insight brings us to the heart of our celebration this evening. Holy Thursday holds together what we often separate. In the upper room, Jesus gives us the Eucharist: “This is my body… this is my blood.” He offers Himself completely, not as an idea, but as a living presence that feeds and sustains us. The altar becomes the place where heaven touches earth, where we receive the love of Christ poured out for us.
Yet the Gospel doesn’t leave us at the table. It takes us to the floor. Jesus kneels and washes the feet of His disciples. The one who is Lord becomes servant. The one who is Teacher bends low in love. It is a moment that unsettles us, because it overturns our understanding of greatness. Peter objects, not from pride, but because he finds it difficult to accept that the one he calls Lord would kneel as a servant.
Yet the fact that Jesus insists reveals the deepest truth of His mission: love is shown not in power, but in self-giving. The washing of feet is not an optional extra to the Eucharist; it is its visible expression.
What we receive at the altar must take shape in how we live. The love that is poured out in the Eucharist must become the love we pour out for others – in service, in patient care, and in the willingness to place another’s need before our own. In other words, the Eucharist we receive must shape the lives we live. If we come to Mass but do not allow it to change how we treat others, something is missing. If we serve others but lose sight of Christ, something is incomplete. Jesus holds both together. He gives us not only a gift, but a way of life.
“Do this in memory of me” is more than a command to repeat a ritual. It is an invitation to become what we receive. The Body of Christ given for us becomes the pattern for a life given for others. This is where faith becomes real. In small ways, we are invited to pour ourselves out in love: in patience with those who test us, in forgiveness when it is difficult, in generosity when it costs us something.
As we enter more deeply into this sacred time, the invitation to each of us becomes personal. The Gospel is no longer simply something we hear; it is something we are asked to live. The towel is placed, in a sense, into our own hands. The question is not whether we understand what Jesus has done, but whether we are willing to follow Him there.
Where is He asking me to bend low in love? Who is He placing at the “edge” of my life, waiting to be noticed, served, or forgiven? How might what I receive at this altar begin to shape the choices I make tomorrow?
The altar and the marketplace belong together. When they do, faith becomes real, love becomes visible, and Christ becomes present in the world through us.
Pontifical Mission Societies – Missio-SACBC #PopeLeoXIV #HolyThursday #catholic #service