“Do this in memory of me”

1. Today is a day of remembering, not in nostalgia , not just to feel good, but to “RE-MEMBER” - as the word suggest: to become Members once again in a new way: Members of the Body of Christ. We ourselves: “RE- member the Body of Christ. I would like to introduce Mark Clory, Lucky and ? As they sing “We remember how you loved us” This song lends a backdrop to what we are to pray about today.

Song : We remember how you loved us to the End.....

• Our story begins with Palm Sunday or as it is now called Passion Sunday. We all know the familiar story, Jesus comes riding on a donkey and the people cry out: Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

The Scribes and the Pharisees are angry. They tell Jesus to silence the crowd. But Jesus says to them “if the children stopped, even the very STONES would rise up and give glory” Luke 19:40.

• Luke 19:40   "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." He said in reply, "I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!"

3. STONES have appeared many times in our Gospels

• in the Gospel of John we see the Scribes and Pharisees wanting to stone the woman caught in adultery.
• later on in the Acts of the Apostles we will read how Stephen the first Martyr was stoned to death.
• However, the STONES that I would like to talk about was when Jesus was in the wilderness. The Devil came to put Jesus to the test, “If you are the Son of God, you can turn these stones into bread.”

4. Today, Jesus is not going to turn Stones into Bread. He is going to turn the BREAD into his Body which he will give as food for all of us. This is what we celebrate each day at Mass. This is what you all have been faithfully watching either from a sick bed, a hospital, a nursing home, or from your homes before you go to work.

SCENE TWO:  

Mark 14 22 While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." 23 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. 25 Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

5. But before Jesus turns the Bread into the Body and Blood he does something very significant.

So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist.

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. 

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Master, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later." 

Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me." 

Simon Peter said to him, "Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well." So when he had washed their feet (and) put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you?

You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am.

If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.

6. And so we go back to the Breaking of the Bread, St. Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians tells us:

1. Cor. 11: 23- 25

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

7.  

When Jesus gives the Bread that is blessed and the Cup that is to be shared, he says, “Do this in memory of me”. Was Jesus only referring to the Bread and Wine, it seems likely. But I would like to suggest that there were other things that Jesus was also referring to.... He wanted to include

1. The Washing of the Feet... Do this in memory of me

2. The breaking of the Bread....do this in memory of me.

3. The Carrying of the Cross .... do this in memory of me.

a. THE WASHING OF THE FEET DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.

The washing of the feet may not make such an impact on us here in Canada, especially during the Winter or even early spring. We may miss its significance because we are constantly wearing socks and shoes. And in our homes even when we wear slippers, we still use our socks. Our feet are lily white and there is no dust on them.

But in the land of Jesus, even today, people wear open toed sandals, - the sort of flip-flops we wear on the beach. As a result your feet were pretty dusty when you enter your home or visited someone else’s. Just as we have a rough door mat to scrape of extra snow and the salt each time we enter the house, - there was always a large jar of water for the washing of the feet. We remember the Miracle of the wedding at Cana. There were six stone water jars each containing about 20 gallons of water for ablutions.

 Together with the stone water jars, there was always a servant or slave to help pour water on your feet, and hand you a towel to dry them. He was usually maltreated. He definitely was not called by name. He often received a slap on the head if the visitor was in a bad mood. He never got a word of thanks.

It is no wonder that Peter protests, you will never wash my feet, when Jesus takes the place of the Slave in today’s celebration. Peter’s admiration and love for the Master was so great that he would not allow this humiliation. That outburst of Peter is a perfect backdrop, a perfect teaching aid for the Message of Jesus. “You think this task is humiliating , you think this is demeaning. Well, when I tell you to Love one another - this is the way you my friends, my disciples, my followers - this is the same way you are going to show it.”

Wash the Feet of one another... and do it IN MEMORY OF ME. I am not asking you to build temples, I am not asking you for animal sacrifices, I am not even asking you for fasting and penance. Just wash one another’s feet. Do this in memory of me.

b. Jesus took the Bread, blessed it, Broke it, and gave it to his Disciples saying, “Take and eat for this is my body.” Do this in memory of me.

This is the most familiar and immediate picture that comes to our mind when we hear the words: DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. It is a Memorial that we celebrate each day of the Year, - in an ordinary manner, and on Sundays and Feast days we celebrate it with “all the bells and whistles.” Even the smallest Child is aware that something solemn, something special is taking place at the Consecration and at the Communion.

Do this in memory of me, has been understood most commonly and generally as referring to the Eucharist. But even here, we must realise that Doing in Memory is not simply Blessing the Bread. It involves all four actions: the Taking, the Blessing, the Breaking and the Giving. These are actions that we use constantly in our every day lives. It is not merely bread: we take our children to school, to church, to the playground, we break: - whether food to share, or the Word of God we read, or in the pain we suffer: broken hearts and tears in our eyes, and we give most especially of ourselves.

In the morning offering, so many of you, “Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you all my thoughts, words and actions of this day.” We are offering every: Taking, Blessing, Breaking and Giving that we do and WE DO IT IN MEMORY OF HIM.

c. Finally, in Luke 9:23, Jesus says, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let them take up their Cross -daily.”

The action of the Eucharist was not only the Bread and Wine that was blessed. It was brought to its conclusion on Good Friday by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The cycle of Carrying the Cross, the Death and the Resurrection takes place regularly in our lives, sometimes the entire cycle is takes place in a single day.

We are hurt, we are in a financial bind, we have ailments like arthritis and multiple sclerosis, we are diagnosed with cancer, we have family problems

We carry our Cross and we carry it daily. But our deep faith allows us to forgive, allows us to give others courage, while we ourselves bear a heavy burden. We rise from the dead bringing peace and joy and strength to ourselves and those around us. We carry our cross, we die to ourselves and we rise again in Christ, and Jesus says to us, DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.

Holy Thursday is a Solemn Day, a Sombre day, we know that good Friday is going to be a day of a lot of physical suffering: there will be the Scourging and the Crowning with Thorns, there will be Carrying of the Cross and the helpless cry, “My God why have you forsaken me.”

But through it all, Jesus, the Wounded Healer still heals us, he says, “BE NOT AFRAID, I go before you always, come follow me. ...as you do this in memory of me.