Homily for Holy Thursday, 2009

Holy Thursday
The Memorial of the Last Supper
April 9, 2009

We are fed by the gospel and the Lord’s supper.
We are fed on the promise of God’s mercy and a poor man’s body and blood given to forgive the world that crucifies the poor.

They beat him bloody, nailed him naked to a cross and plunged a spear into his heart. It is his nailed hands and the flow of his blood that undoes the iniquity of the cult of violence and greed that has required victims since Cain murdered his brother.

We eat his broken body and drink his blood to commit ourselves to solidarity with the suffering poor. Jesus is Abel who absolves us on the condition that we be in solidarity with the crucified ones of history.

We are fed on mercy to become merciful.