The Holy Triduum started yesterday with the celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Other than the Easter Vigil, Holy Thursday is one of the most solemn times of the Church. It is the memorial of the Institution of the Eucharist, of Christ’s self-gift to us, and our reception of this gift.
I had the privilege of singing with the choir of St. Benedict’s Church in Shawnee OK last night. I will be there through the Triduum and Easter, and I am coming to realize the real blessings of the parish family and of taking ownership of one’s membership in the Body of Christ
Fr. Wolf, the pastor at St. Benedict’s, gave a beautiful homily about the priesthood. He began by saying we must all realize our own priesthood as baptized believers. It is through us that Christ is made present throughout the world to those who do not know Him. He then focused on the ordained priesthood, recounting the necessity of this priesthood and the miraculous way in which Christ uses them at the altar to make Himself physically manifest in the Blessed Sacrament.
The most impactful part of Fr.’s homily for me came toward the end. He said that if Christ’s Body and Blood were brought to us, and it stopped there, it would be “miraculous, but boring.” Our identity as Christians would only be partially complete. It is in the reception of Our Lord that this miracle takes root within us. Through receiving the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharist, we become Eucharist – we become what we eat, and we take our place in the Body of Christ.
My best wishes to you during this most holy of seasons within the Church. May the Triduum awaken in you a desire to seek out your place in the community of Believers, whose Head is none other than our Savior.
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