HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED?

EVENING MASS OF THE LORD'S LAST SUPPER

Ex.12:1-8, 11-14; Ps.116:12-18; 1 Cor.11:23-26; Jn.13:1-15

How do you want to be remembered? There is this old saying which says that in life for you to be remembered you have to do these three: “plant a tree, write a book, father a child.” Well, most would not certainly agree with such recommendation. What if the tree that you planted is cut? What if you cannot read or write? What if you cannot marry either because of consecrated celibacy or reproductive problems? Thus, the question remains: How do you want to be remembered?

In our first reading, the Lord instructed Moses and Aaron to inform the Israelites to prepare a meal on the night of the tenth of the month as the Lord goes through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of the land. Yet those houses marked with the blood, the Lord will pass over them and the household shall live. Towards the end of the reading, the Lord adds, “This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.” From that moment, the Israelites are to remember every year through the same meal that Passover of the Lord when they were in Egypt.

In our second reading, Paul wrote to the Corinthians something which has been handed down to him by the Lord Jesus Christ that is “on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “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.” This time it was Paul’s turn to hand over to these Christians that memorial of our Lord.

In our Gospel, Jesus was about to culminate his earthly life. On the night he was betrayed, he was dining with his closest friends. And just before the meal, Jesus left them a very important teaching, something which he wants to be remembered for. “He rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.” During the time of Jesus, the feet of those who dined at table needs to be washed because their feet were dirty since they were only wearing sandals and the roads were not cemented like today. This washing of the feet was usually done by the servant of the house. Hence, we can understand why Peter asked the Lord, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” It was something new for him because only servants washed the feet of guests.

However, Jesus wanted his disciples to remember him not as their Lord and Teacher but as their servant. Such humbling act of Jesus was his way of summarizing his earthly life – after all, he came down into this world “not to be served but to serve.”

In this Mass, we solemnly begin the three most important days towards Easter. Indeed, this Mass of the Lord’s Last Supper is a night of remembering. In this celebration, we remember Christ’s institution of the priesthood. The priesthood which Christ established is a priesthood that is born from service and is meant for service. Hence, we pray for our priests that they continue to become living reminders of God’s service for you and me.

We also remember Christ’s institution of the Holy Eucharist. He left us not with royal and kingly gifts. Rather, Jesus gave us his very self, his body and blood, every time the priest offers the Eucharist.

Finally, when Jesus asked his disciples to wash each other’s feet, he was teaching them that what matters in the end is our “servant – loving” to our brothers and sisters especially the poor and the suffering.

The priesthood, the Eucharist, and “servant – loving” – these three make us forever remember of Jesus, the Eternal High Priest, who offered his very self back to the Father and has marked his lifetime not in vainglory but humble servant loving to the last, least, and lost in society.

May we be remembered not through the number of trees that we have planted; nor the libraries of books that we have written; nor the number of children that we have fathered; rather, may we be remembered for being “Christ-like” that is for forgetting ourselves through humbly serving others so that they too can have life in abundance. Amen!