Homily for Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper

April 2, 2026
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

 “You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him (her) in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him (her) up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” These words are part of the Church’s Rite of Baptism for One Child. They are addressed by the priest, or in his absence, the deacon, to the parents of the child who is to be baptized. In responding to this question, parents accept their responsibility to set an example for and to teach their children how to keep the Commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor.

This is the key part of the question — to keep the Commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Tonight, as we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we call to mind just how Christ showed us how to keep God’s Commandments by loving God and our neighbor. This can only be accomplished through our worthy participation in the Cross through the Sacrifice of the Eucharist that shows itself in humble service to our neighbors as Christ commanded us to do as He washed the feet of the Apostles.

While it is true that the Gospel of John uses baptismal imagery in depicting Christ’s washing of the Apostles’ feet as the Mandatum for loving service to our neighbor, yet the message of the Gospel is deeper and broader than a passing reference to Baptism. The fact that Christ washed the Apostles’ feet at the Last Supper and commands them as Apostles to do likewise clearly connects Baptism with the institution of the Eucharist and the institution of the priesthood.

Baptism is sufficient but incomplete without confirmation and reception of the Holy Eucharist. It is these three sacraments that initiate us fully into the life of Grace that we can only ordinarily receive through our humble participation as members of Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church — the only Church that He founded as He died on the Cross as water and blood flowed forth from His side — the only Church for which He died and which He guaranteed would not defect from the authenticity of His Gospel. Without Baptism and Confirmation, there is no priesthood, and without the priesthood there is no Eucharist and there is no Church. This is the explicit intention and design of Christ as He makes clear tonight that the priesthood He intends is an Apostolic priesthood humble enough to wash feet.

“It will be your duty to bring him (her) up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?” A priestly vocation always springs from God’s Grace and ordinarily through the generosity of a father and mother who as husband and wife have taken seriously the selfless and generous character of their marital love and their promises at the Baptism of their son to keep God’s Commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor.

If parents are lax or indifferent in the performance of their duties to teach as Christ has instructed them by loving God and their neighbor, the Commandments soon are misappropriated as a list of “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots” that are open to rationalization after having been separated from the example of Jesus. The same holds true for godparents and for a parish community in assisting parents in fulfilling their duties as Christian fathers and mothers. When we do not pay attention to the example of Christ, the beauty and depth of the Eucharist as His unbloody sacrifice becomes mistreated as only a shared meal with egalitarian symbolism, void of love, void of sacrifice, and void of forgiveness, the very purpose for His coming and for His undergoing crucifixion.

If such a misunderstanding of the gift of the Eucharist develops because of a lack of generosity by Christian parents, likewise a misunderstanding of the priesthood will follow. The priesthood is misunderstood as a vaguely altruistic life, distant from Christ, and seen without the eyes of faith as something that is meaningless. It becomes unattractive and certainly not a path for success that any modern parent would value for their son.

One of the reasons why a married couple is open to life is because the spouses communicate to each other “I want you to continue in body and soul unto eternity. I want others to see and love in you what I see and love in you. The heritage we bring to our marital love, the memories that we share, and all the blessings that God has given us, we want that to continue in our children and grandchildren.” This is natural and good, and it is insufficient.

We also need to raise young men to say to this parish and this diocese “I want you to continue in body and soul unto eternity. Therefore, I am willing, forsaking all others, to offer myself to Christ’s Church for priestly service. A young man can only come to this if he has been taught to keep God’s Commandments by loving God and our neighbor as Christ taught us to do, and as he has seen in his parents, his godparents, and his parish community. This is how he learns to offer his life as Christ offered His own life.

The gifts we receive from Christ in the Eucharist and the priesthood require gratitude on our part as a matter of justice and not simply as a matter of love. We can express to God our gratitude for these gifts of His Son to the extent that we specifically encourage our young men to give themselves totally and generously to Christ and to His Church as priests. It is not enough to simply avoid discouraging a young man from pursuing the call to priesthood. We must actively encourage priestly vocations, especially among our sons and brothers. We cannot do so if we demand the Eucharist and the priesthood on our own terms and not accept them on Christ’s. If generosity is lacking, so is our faith. Tonight, as we respond to Christ’s invitation to keep watch with Him and to stay awake with Him in adoration in this His hour, let us beg Him that we might clearly understand what we are undertaking and do what He has taught us to do.