Today is one of my favorite days in the whole liturgical year! Today is Holy Thursday. Our Protestant brothers and sisters call this day “Maundy Thursday” to remember the mandate Our Blessed Lord gave us.
I remember the Spring of my sophomore year in college. I wanted to practice my faith and follow Jesus Christ. Some Christian friends invited me to Campus Crusade for Christ and I began attending weekly Praise and Worship, bible study, and learning how to share the Gospel with other college students. On this night, we were invited to a reenactment of the Last Supper. We all left in silence and for some reason, I felt extremely empty. I wanted more. I wanted to go somewhere and spend the night with Our Lord in the Garden, to follow Him through His trial, crucifixion, and death.
A few years later, as a young second lieutenant, I attended the RCIA class to learn what it meant to be a Catholic. After that spring semester in college, participating in protestant worship, I made a promise to my dad that I would practice my Catholic Faith. And so, I decided to learn what being a Catholic meant. As I stumbled along the years, I found a parish and tried to get involved. In my first duty station, we had RCIA. Because I had received all my sacraments, I was asked to be a sponsor and accompany a young lady who desired to become Catholic. So this year for Holy Thursday, I was invited to attend Holy Thursday Mass with my catechumen.
I did not expect the liturgy to be so beautiful. I began to cry as I watched the priest wash the feet of those who were entering the Church in a few days. I had never witnessed a Eucharistic procession, as the priest walked with Jesus to the Altar of Repose. And I had never experienced Adoration. But this is how I worshipped Our Blessed Lord in a whole new way.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church #1323 states: “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet “in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace and a pledge of future glory is given to us.”
The Eucharist is the source and the summit of the Christian life. As the source, just like the power source for your electronics, as Christians, the Eucharist fills us with Christ himself. As the summit, the Eucharist is the highest sacrament as all others are bound up with the Eucharist.
St. John the Evangelist understood this as he shares in the first chapter of his Gospel;
“And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. And we saw his glory, the glory of the Father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
Our bodies too are good, for we are made in the image and likeness of God. That means a woman’s cycles are good. Have we ever thought of how good our cycles are? Have we ever considered the gift our cycles are? Have we ever considered that through our cycles we can participate in Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection? Or have we listened to the world that tells women our bodies are depraved and therefore we must suppress this unique system that is only in the female body? Or are you confused about your cycle,(like I was with my faith), wanting to understand and practice charting, but not having anyone show you the way?
Stick with me, sister!
For I truly have GOOD NEWS. And I am so excited to share it with you, but first, we must walk with Our Lord to Calvary. Tune in next week to hear the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
May you have an incredible Holy Triduum and come to know the love and mercy Our Lord Jesus Christ has for you! Many blessings
To Jesus through Mary
Mama Jane