We embark tonight on the most solemn and sacred celebrations in the life of Christ’s Church. Through the mystery of her existence both inside and outside of time, the Church brings us to a decisive moment in salvation history. She brings us to the Last Supper and, at the same time, to the beginning of the Exodus. This is the moment when God acts decisively to save his people, and this is where the Church places us tonight.
We know the story of the Exodus. Israel, enslaved in Egypt, passes through the waters of the Red Sea, through the wilderness of the Desert of Sin, and into the Promised Land. We Christians follow that same road. We are born into a world marked by sin, subject to the slavery of sin and death. We pass through the waters of Baptism, which redeem us. We struggle to be purified of sin in the wilderness of the world, and we journey toward the promised land of Heaven.
But before any of this can happen, before Israel can leave Egypt and pass through the waters of the Red Sea, God commands his people to participate in a ritual. They are to mark their homes with the blood of a perfect and unblemished lamb. They are to eat the flesh of that lamb. They are to be ready to depart and to follow where God leads. Participation is not optional. Knowing about the sacrifice is not enough. Watching it is not enough. Ignoring it is certainly not enough. Those who wished to be counted among God’s people had to participate in the Passover. Failure to do so meant they would not be saved.
The Last Supper is the fulfillment of that Passover. Christ does not abolish it; he brings it to completion. When he takes bread and wine and declares, “This is my body… this is my blood,” he reveals that he himself is the true Lamb. He commands us to take and eat, to participate in the sacrifice, and to be marked by his saving Blood. The first Passover, with its unblemished lamb, delivered the children of God from slavery in Egypt. This new Passover, with the unblemished Lamb of God, delivers us from sin and from eternal death.
When we receive the Eucharist, we do not merely recall Christ’s Passion. We are drawn into it. As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, the Eucharist is “the sacrament of Christ’s Passion” (ST III, q. 73, a. 4). It makes present that sacrifice so that we may truly participate in it. In receiving the Eucharist, we are united to the Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ, and we are led toward the Father.
After the first Passover, the people of Israel were commanded to celebrate it each year, so that they might remain faithful to the covenant God had made with them. In the Eucharist, we relive the mysteries of our salvation and renew our commitment to the New Covenant established in Christ. The Passover was a matter of life and death. The Eucharist is no less serious. When we receive it worthily, we receive the source of life itself. That is why St. Paul warns us so strongly: “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.” (1 Cor 11:27-29)
God is not cruel. He does not give us such a gift without also giving us a way to prepare. In the Gospel of John, Christ shows us what that preparation requires. He washes the feet of his disciples and says to St. Peter: “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” (John 13:8) St. Augustine explains that even those who have already been cleansed must still be washed, because we continue to pick up the dust of sin in our daily lives. We must allow Christ to purify us if we are to share in him.
This truth is tragically embodied in the figure of Judas. He is there. He participates in the Last Supper. He hears Christ’s words, including the warning, “woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” (Matthew 26:24) And yet he does not allow his heart to be cleansed. He receives the Body and Blood of Christ, but instead of receiving life, his sin is hardened. He betrays the Lord, and his life is destroyed. It is a sobering reminder for us. It is possible to come forward and yet fail to receive what is truly given. If we do not allow Christ to heal us, then receiving him in the Eucharist can become an experience of judgment rather than the mercy Christ desires to give. This is precisely why the Church, in her wisdom, constantly calls us to examination, repentance, and confession—not to keep us away from the Eucharist, but to prepare us to receive it well.
Tonight, the Church sets before us the Passover and its fulfillment. We behold the Lamb of God who offers himself for us. We witness the priesthood established to perpetuate this sacrifice. And soon, we will accompany the Lord from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane as we walk in Eucharistic procession to the altar of repose.
There he will remain, inviting us to keep vigil with him until the hour of his betrayal, when he is led out of the garden in chains.
As we accompany our Lord and God to the garden tonight, let us approach him with reverence and humility. As we keep vigil with him, let us ask him to cleanse our hearts, so that we may receive him worthily and participate fully in these most holy and sacred mysteries.