What is the significance of the Last Supper in the mystery of Christ’s saving death? What is its importance in the life of the Church? Without the Last Supper, the death of Jesus could be regarded as merely horrible, tragic, sad, a crime, a disaster, a defeat. But it wasn’t. Because at the Last Supper the Lord Jesus as Priest deliberately, solemnly took his death into his hands, and offered it as a sacrifice of redemption for our sake. So his death was an act of humility and love, a ritual act of worship, the total gift of himself to us. This is my Body, he said, which will be given up for you. This is the cup of my blood, which will be poured out for you.
At the Last Supper Jesus instituted a New Passover which would be the fulfilment of the old one, while also bringing it to an end. With this New Passover, there would be also a New Covenant, to be sealed in his own blood. And in service of this New Covenant, Jesus at the Last Supper instituted a new Priesthood for his Church, so that his single and all-sufficient Sacrifice would be perpetuated to the end of time. This Sacramental Sacrifice, constantly repeated, would be the central and defining act of his Church, and a never ending source of life and grace for all his holy people, until his return in glory.
So we say that the Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of the whole Christian life (LG 11). We say also that through it the work of our redemption is accomplished (opus nostrae redemptionis exercetur - Super oblata, quoted in SC 2). Surely then it must be impossible for us to over-estimate or exaggerate the significance and importance of the Last Supper! How awe-inspiring it must be then for us to approach tonight’s Evening Mass, and to contemplate once again the inexhaustible riches of this act of Jesus, as we begin our solemn Easter triduum. As in every Mass, but especially tonight, we re-affirm our communion with all who are one with us in Christ’s Body which is the Church. We remember also especially all those who would like to be with us here, but are unable. And in our Eucharistic worship we sum up our prayer for all those whom we love.
We are right to love people, because Jesus first loved us. But our love has to be no ordinary love: it has to be informed by that love with which Jesus loved us. So it has to be humble, self emptying, self giving. St. John and St. Paul agree perfectly in teaching us this truth. St. John recounts how at the Last Supper Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, and then gave them his new commandment of love. As if in commentary on that, St. Paul urges us: have that mind in you which was in Christ Jesus, who emptied himself, taking the form of a slave (cf. Phil 2:7). The mind of Jesus, the meaning of Jesus, was love, expressed in humility and self-offering and patience. Love for his Father, and love for us. So that must be the meaning and grace also of the Holy Eucharist.
In the year 1202 Pope Innocent III felt compelled to respond to some currently disputed questions about the Eucharist. In an important dogmatic letter to John, retired Archbishop of Lyons, Innocent spoke of a subtle distinction which can be made between three aspects of the Eucharist. To distinguish these aspects he used the terms Sacramentum - “sacrament”, or maybe better “visible sign” - and Res - literally “thing”, or we might say “inner reality”, or “spiritual power”. So we have, said Pope Innocent, sacramentum et non res, that is, the bread and wine on the Altar. Then we have the sacramentum et res, that is, Christ’s Body and Blood, truly present under these sacramental signs. And lastly we have the res et non sacramentum, that is, the inner power, the effect, which we cannot see, but which is present and effective by grace. This, said Innocent, is the power of unity and love, or unitive love, or the love which draws into unity. Along with the communication of divine life, this is the effect of the Eucharist; what the Eucharist does; what ultimately it’s for.
Unitive love holds together in one the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Unitive love fills the Heart of Jesus, binding him to his Father, and to all of us who belong to him. Through us this love must fill the Catholic Church, so that she can truly be what in her essence she is: a communion of love. Of course on our own this must be beyond us: but precisely in the holy Eucharist we receive Jesus, so that we can live with his life, and love with his love.
Contemplating what Jesus gave us in the Holy Eucharist, St. Augustine cried out as if in ecstasy: O Sacramentum pietatis! O signum unitatis! O vinculum caritatis! O sacrament of love! O sign of unity! O bond of charity! (Tractatus XXVI in Ioannis Ev. quoted in SC 47).
May this sacrament, this sign, this bond truly have its effect in us tonight, and for the rest of our lives! And may the grace of this sacrament reach all who celebrate it tonight in union with us, and also all who are locked down in their homes; for the glory of God, the renewal of the Church, and the salvation of souls.