Praise be the name of Jesus and holy is his name!
During the holy week liturgical celebrations we are offered the opportunity to “fine-tune” our walk with the Lord and then to call to mind the example Jesus set before us as a model of holiness for which we ALL are called to emulate.
God came to us as a human being: A man! Since God acts not for his own good but for ours we must use his gift of faith to see his divine plan for our “human” life.
Holy Thursday begins this plan by giving us an example of service and sacrifice! One can not serve God and his people without the sacrifices necessary to accomplish such a lofty goal. Jesus reminds us in John’s version of the Last Supper that he came not to be a “T.O” (you know, the Me, Myself, and I ideology which is concerned only about those 3 people alone: sorry T.O I thought you had gotten better at this!) for God but to serve God first and foremost with every fiber of his being (Human AND Divine!).
This service is marked by self-sacrifice: God gets on his hands and knees and serves those he chose for apostolic ministry and washes their feet! God did that! If we don’t then, we are really fooling ourselves!
Holiness is a spiritual virtue of understanding that says the setting aside one’s own desires for another person (priest for Christ’s bride the Church; Husband for wife; Wife for husband; Parents for children; Children for parents; people of God for their neighbor…..). To be set aside for another purpose other than our own is holiness (we can look at sin another time….): a purpose for which we all have been created in the image of God in order to accomplish!
Wow! Don’t we have a great God?! Doesn’t God have great confidence in each of us?! Why can’t we trust him with this fulfilling plan for our life?
Let us pray for the grace this day, to offer our lives to God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Let us grasp onto this opportunity to lift our life in holiness!
Read Peter’s first letter chapter 2
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May we become ”a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of God this holy week by the holiness for which we live following Christ!
