The “Breaking of the Bread” and humble service go hand in hand….God is fully present in both actions….Found in the ordinary, which transforms into the extraordinary

Today is Holy Thursday and tonight at Mass we commemorate the founding of the Catholic Priesthood……You will notice that Jesus commemorates this very important day with an act of humble service…”Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist”…..This act clearly was symbolic and meant to teach us all - That in order to love God, we must love others, by how we live….There are many things to note about the importance of this event…Allow me to bring up a few…While Jesus us trying to teach Peter and the rest about what it means to serve others, as well as show them that in the “Breaking of the Bread” we are all fortified to live the life of the Gospel…His 12 friends were absolutely clueless!……”Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”……Why do I bring this up? - To throw stones at these men? - NO…..I bring this up because Jesus knew that they would eventually “get it”…He was patient with them…A lesson for us all….We must be patient with each other….Getting back to the washing of the feet….A very common act, no fanfare, yet so important….This morning I read a reflection from one of my heroes…Fr Walter Ciszek SJ…He was a Jesuit priest who spent 20 + years in prison in the former Soviet Union….This is what Fr Ciszek said about what it means to be a priest and what to means to live out our Catholic faith in real time….”There were no startling conversations, no miracles performed, no sensational prayer sessions testifying to the work of the Holy Spirit, no pomp, no splendor in our religious services”……What Fr Ciszek is trying to teach us is…God is found in the ordinary….Like how Jesus washed the feet of his friends…God is found in humble service - This is the root of what it means to be Catholic, whether one is a priest or sitting in the pews - We learn this at Mass this evening….We “eat the Bread of Life”…And then we are fortified to “go forth” to serve each other….As Fr Ciszek put it…..”no pomp, no splendor”….But through the giving of our self to each other in humble service….Like the first disciples…Our eyes open…Eventually!

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”

How do we find God?…A question asked for centuries…How do we see Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament…Another very good question…..A person could be a stone cold atheist who honestly with an open heart is searching for the Truth…That person will find God…Another way…When we extend a hand to serve others….That same person, a stone cold atheist, when he or she extends a hand to help others - Something will happen deep inside of them...Because when we serve the broken, the poor and the lost…We serve Jesus himself…When we do that consistently…Our eyes open……India is a very complex country…The last time I checked, two of the top five richest people in the world are from India…And while that is true, a large percentage of the population live in dire poverty…..One given day while I was in Kolkata, the sisters were taking handicapped children to a Science Museum in the city…This was a place that only the rich would or could go…But Mother Teresa's sisters give these handicapped children the best they can and so that day we took them to a place only the elite of Kolkata got to enjoy…So picture this: A group of Catholic nuns in a city comprised of mostly Hindu and Muslim people with a bunch of American, Canadian, South American and European volunteers in addition to around 50 severely handicapped children, all coming from the bottom rung of Indian society - We are all together on a line with the wealthy and elite of the city….I was tasked to carry this 12 year old boy…His body was twisted...As I carried this kid I watched the eyes of “polite society” look at us in absolute disbelief - Stunned!…..As Fr Ciszek said…..”no pomp, no splendor in our religious services”….But while there was no pomp and no splendor in what we did that day…I know this..Jesus was with us on that line!…..And his Holy Spirit could tangibly be felt by everyone who saw what was going on….Jesus was a regular man - A carpenter…He walked among us and still walks among us…If you sincerely want to find God….Serve others….And you surely will find him!

“I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another as I have loved you.”

Tonight at Mass we will witness not only the founding of the Catholic Priesthood but an act of humble service, the washing of the feet of 12 men in front of the altar….This gesture, while symbolic serves as a reminder to us all…..Our faith is not an “academic pursuit”…Its to be lived out in the ordinary day to day lives of our families and neighbors….To do this we must be fortified by the “Breaking of Beard”…Something else we will witness tonight at Mass…Because with the founding of the Catholic Priesthood, comes with it the ability for us to consume Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament….And when we consume the Eucharist in a state of grace…Our eyes open and our hands become instruments of God, quick to serve a broken world….As Fr Ciszak went on to say in the reflection I read this morning….”It did not make getting up in the morning to face another day of rough and wind-whipped work any easier, or the work itself any less exhausting, but it added a dimension of expiation and sacrifice to our lives beyond the sheer necessity of survival and enduring one more day…It added a Sacramental element to the labor and sufferings of the day”……The “Breaking of the Bread” and humble service go hand in hand….God is fully present in both actions….Found in the ordinary, which transforms into the extraordinary