Holy Thursday

The depths of Christ’s love and his desire for communion with us are contained in the Holy Eucharist. His desire is expressed in these words: “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.” What greater surety of love could someone give than his own blood? What greater basis of trust could we have? Jesus has freely chosen a binding covenant with us. But in this world, the very meaning of covenant is obscured. What exactly does it mean to make a covenant? And even more, how can we plumb the depths of the Eucharistic covenant which is a divine mystery? The Church summons us today to ponder the covenant which the Lord renews for us in solemn assembly. And one way to do so is to look at other covenantal statements as in a mirror.

The liturgy gives us such a mirror in the example of St. Peter. We are all familiar with Peter’s covenantal statements repeated in one form or another throughout these holy days: “Even though all should have their faith shaken, mine will not be.” And again, “Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you.” He gave his word. By a solemn oath he publicly declared his fidelity to the man he acknowledged as the Christ, the son of the living God. A covenantal statement freely binds a person, as in the case of marriage. Unfortunately, Peter was like the Israelites on Mt. Sinai who responded to Moses, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” In both cases, they did not realize the magnitude of their statement, and Peter probably only realized what his entailed when he so quickly broke it. For, after vowing that he would die before he would deny Christ, the Scriptures say: “He began to curse and to swear, ‘I do not know this man about whom you are talking.” The true blood of the covenant – Jesus’ blood – had not yet washed Peter’s soul. Without the Spirit which accompanies Jesus’ blood, Peter could not be true to his commitment.

There is another mirror closer to home that can shed light on the meaning of covenant and on the depths of Our Lord’s covenant in the Eucharist. It is the statement each of us made when we stood in this church and publicly vowed our life to God in the Cistercian way. “I promise obedience, conversion of life, and stability according to the Rule of St. Benedict until death.” This was one side of the covenant. The other side was Our Lord’s response, which, if you will allow me to use my imagination, I would paraphrase this way: “So be it. You pledge your life’s blood to accept all the hard and harsh ways that will lead you to the glory that I have prepared for you. And I pledge my blood of the covenant to enable you to do it.” This was the solemn, mutual covenant between the Lord and us, sealed, not by walking between animals cut in two, but by the Lord’s covenantal blood. His blood was a sign of his enduring love. Our word was a sign of our willingness to embrace loving endurance to the end.

This mutual covenant is the cause of our hope on this Holy Thursday: that love will answer to love. Jesus’ love endures forever. His blood is the guarantee. His Eucharist is the perpetual sign of it. Our covenant impels us to the same love. May the love of Jesus Christ, expressed in the giving of his life’s blood, enable us to give our life’s blood, in fact, our body and soul and all that we have, in gratitude for his abiding presence in the Holy Eucharist.

Abbot Vincent's homily for this evening.