Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Year A, 2026
Holy Thursday: Creating Unity through Eating the Body and Drinking the Blood of Christ
Ex 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15
This night, we have come to eat; not just any kind of food, but flesh – meat and blood. We are here, not because we have no food and drinks in our individual homes, but because there is a party, Jesus’ banquet where there is food and drink for everyone who cares to stop by. It is a dinner, a supper with a difference – we will eat and become what we eat, Jesus. It is not like our everyday meal; it is an initiation meal, a covenant of lives – your lives and mine will become one with Jesus’ and with one another’s. At the end of this meal, although we came individually, we shall return home, no longer as individuals but as a family, a communion of lives and having a common identity as children of God.
We need a meal and a banquet because we are all hungry for love, for friendship, and for appreciation. Just look at how fragmented our world is today! Our quests for wealth, power, and influence have turned us against each other. At the very core of our being and existence, selfishness and egoism have blinded us to the dignity of other human beings and creation as a whole. We crave the success of our personal projects by idolizing our ambitions and using others as tools to achieve our purposes. The “other” remains relevant only as a means to an end. Today’s meal, the Last Supper, helps us to go beyond the self to encounter “life” itself – God. God reminds us through the Last Supper that we are not alone, that he is here with us, that we are all one body, the Body of Christ.
For Israel, in our first reading, the encounter with God came as a survival struggle. At the point when Israel’s extinction seemed evident and imminent, God found relevance in their lives. Pharaoh’s extermination attempt on Israel turned into a drama of survival through the unique action of the angel of death’s visit to all the houses of Egypt. The power of a meal that involved the spilling of blood and eating of bread and meat suddenly took off the addresses of Israel’s children from the executioner’s list. Salvation came to Israel through food and eating! The first Passover meal is the prototype of what we eat today, with a unique difference that animal blood and meat are being substituted for with the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.
The Passover feast, for Israel, was a covenant of lives – God’s and humans’. After appearing to Moses as the “I am,” that is, the Being/Living one, Moses takes the good news that God alone guarantees life and living to Egypt, to a more or less condemned people of Israel. Today, that food of life is Jesus. Unlike the Israelites who had to prepare it themselves, Jesus gives it to us free of charge. Instead of Moses bringing the news of God’s guarantee of life, Jesus gives himself to us as food of life. After tonight’s food and banquet, every Christian is obliged to say, with St. Paul that “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). No one of us remains an individual, we are now a people – the People of God; we are now a Church – the Body of Christ; we are now a Community – a Communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is your feet and mine that Jesus washes today; he recognizes you as a child worth dying for and worth serving. He introduces you into a communion of the divine – sons and daughters of God. Your Master and Lord becomes your servant; he shows you the power of humility and care and service of others. He teaches you and me the power of practical Christianity – it is what you do that proves your faith and Christianity. Indeed, Jesus shows us that greatness is not about oneself, but the dignity we accord to others, for the “other” is Jesus Christ himself. Yes, Jesus changes the Nigerian expression “I better pass my neighbour”! On the contrary, here is Jesus’ formula for us: “I am third!” Every Christian is “third” because God is first, our neighbor is second, and every Christian is “third”. Let us conclude with a story that tells the power of unity and communion:
There was a man who had 7 sons. When he was at the point of death, he assembled his children around him. He requested the youngest to go into the bush to get 8 sticks. His son returned with the 8 sticks, which he placed right in front of him. Then he asked the youngest to take one of those sticks to break it, which he did with ease. Next, he asked the son to pick up all seven remaining sticks and to break them all at once; he tried but couldn’t. Their father then addressed them: “my children, after my death, should you all go your ways individually, the enemy will break you just as your youngest brother broke that single stick; however, should you remain united, no enemy will be able to break you, just as your brother failed to break all seven sticks at once.
To emphasize the power of unity, the body and blood of Christ is called “communion.” Holy Thursday, therefore, invites us to create unity through feeding on body and blood of Christ. The question is: Can Jesus Christ count on you not to break “communion?” with one another and the Church?
Good Friday, Year A, 2026
Because Salvation is free, the Friday is Good Friday!
Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42
Andrew failed twice in two different public schools, finishing last each time. His parents then enrolled him in St. Andrew’s Catholic School. That year, he not only passed all his exams—he came first in his class.
Surprised, his parents asked what changed.
Andrew replied, “On my first day, I saw a man nailed to a cross on the wall. I knew right then they don’t joke with failures here… so I studied hard. I didn’t want to end up like that!”
Poor Andrew sees in the crucifix hanging on the wall of his classroom, the punishment to school reserves for those who fail their examinations. The crucifix is not a symbol of fear but of love, love understood as sacrifice. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . ” (John 3:16).
Today, Good Friday, we see the meaning of “he gave his Son”: the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. This may appear harsh. How could one give up an only begotten son?
The story of the cross, and Jesus hanging upon it, is incomplete without the reason why he hangs there, not coming down. God is no God who loves just his only begotten Son, but part of what makes him God is the ability to love many, to love all. The story of the cross continues to be relevant because Jesus still hangs on the cross for one fundamental reason – sin! The ignominy of the cross and the life given upon it is both a payment for sin and a collateral for salvation, human salvation.
The idea of collateral or mortgage is not familiar to most Africans living in continental Africa today, no thanks to a broken economic system, but an average resident of the North-Atlantic is a debtor, made so by the system, so they understand the meaning of collateral and mortgage. In this analogy, the death of Christ is the free salvation God gives to every human being, the collateral on the basis of which our mortgage was approved is the blood of Christ, and the loan we received is citizenship of Heaven, but we need to keep paying our daily premium, because defaulting in payment leads to a revocation of our citizenship and a consequent loss of all our contributions, our citizenship. Worse still, there is an agent whose responsibility is to make us default in payment – Satan. Those familiar with “fine prints” of insurances understand this better: while legal jaundice prevents an average person from seeing the fine prints in an insurance policy, the conjunctivitis of sin, stops Christians from fidelity to their mortgage payments – good deeds.
Before we are mistaken for a chronic capitalist, let us provide a Scriptural backing to what we are saying. Generally speaking, the long “Passion Narrative” of Good Friday’s liturgy can be divided into three, when we use a theatrical analogy: Scene I (Jesus before the religious leaders of his day), scene II (Jesus before the political ruler of his day), and scene III (Jesus on the Cross).
In scene I, the gospel of John today shows a religious leadership antagonistic to Jesus. By crook or by hook, the leadership advances motifs necessitating a capital punishment to do away with Jesus. The religious leadership that should defend Jesus, the Son of God, and every human life, contrives death not only within the spheres of religion but moves in to corrupt the political jurisdiction. What a mess – a non-religious leader, Pilate, sees no motif warranting crucifixion for Jesus, but the religious leaders of the day will twist both the hands of Pilate and the congregation of Jewish people, and subvert justice – an innocent man dies in the the process.
Scenes II shows Pilate appealing to the humanity of the Jewish leadership to spare the life of Jesus to no avail. It depicts how religious decay spreads to every facet of human life; when God is expelled from human affairs, “things fall apart.”
Jesus hanging on the cross, scene III, proves that he is God and that human wiles will never triumph over God’s plans and God’s goodness. Indeed, at the foot of the cross as well as on the cross, a new reality begins to unfold – despite the cowardice of Pilate and the conspiracy to commit murder by the religious leadership of the Jews against Jesus, “there, at the foot of the cross, stood his Mother and the disciple Jesus loved.”
Love binds us to Jesus in an irrevocable bond! Those at the foot of the cross are true disciples of Jesus, the survivors of religious intimidation and political ideology, those who willingly accept the persecution and death that comes with faith and trust in God. Yes, they are there at the foot of the cross, come what may!
It is one’s presence at the foot of the cross that proves one’s discipleship, one’s Christianity. Persecution brings out the true nature of a disciple, and affluence and the quest for power reveal the Judases in Christianity. On the cross, Jesus looks down and sees fidelity, and not persons: the fact that John’s gospel never mentions Jesus’ Mother and the beloved disciple by name, among those at the foot of the Cross, displays the meaning of Jesus’ death – he dies for all, without exception, he dies for the anonymouses in our midst. Also, his death begins the reign of his disciples, those who believe in him and are ready to die for their brothers and sisters.
To be present at the foot of the cross is to be ready to carry a cross of some sorts. “Woman, behold your son, son behold your mother,” can only be said to those at the foot of the cross. In fact, fidelity attracts more responsibility. To the beloved Disciplestanding at the foot of the cross, Jesus says, since you have shown fidelity, here is another assignment for you – take this woman and look after her: “At the foot of the cross was His Mother and the disciple Jesus loved” (John 19:25-27).
When we apply the Gospel message to ourselves, we may ask ourselves where we stand when it comes to the betrayal of Christianity today and our roles in it, while our Savior dies for us on the cross.
Every crucifix has Jesus still hanging on the cross to remind us that still remains with us, as well as the free salvation of God through Jesus’ death. The cross challenges us to stop being ashamed of fighting evil, beginning with our participation in it. The tragedy of Jesus’ miscarriage of justice will be ours tomorrow, if not already, should we keep silent before injustices, wherever they are found.
If Christ died for my sins, we need to die to our sins and be ready to die for our brothers and sisters, as Christ died for us. The concrete way to die for our brothers and sisters is the endurance of insults and spittle without retaliation, like Jesus did. This endurance is the premium we pay daily for the price Jesus paid for our salvation, our mortgage; this is our contribution – our good deeds – to make sure that our citizenship of heaven is not revoked; insults and spittle are the signs that we understand “love” to mean sacrifice, not the desire for human platitudes and encomiums.
As it were, Jesus’ exaltation on the cross is his glorification. Isaiah is right: “See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted” (Isaiah 52:13), God has many sons and daughters now thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross; past, present and future generations continue to reap the fruit of Jesus’ sacrificial love for us. A serious battle against individual and collective sins is the only worthy gratitude we owe God for human salvation.
A Christian cannot afford to be naive. Sin is a realty for us all; in this sense, Satan begins his assault against us from our concupiscences – what are our desires, what do we lust after? Yes, there is Good Friday because we are absent from the scene of fidelity by joining forces with sin, so our Savior has to die for our sins; but now, how do we bring him down from the cross, so that we can rise with him on Easter Sunday? The answer is good deeds daily!
Assignment for Good Friday
Can you participate in the station/way of the Cross this Friday as well as give a free lunch to someone in thanksgiving for Christ’s death on the Cross of Calvary for you?
Holy Saturday, Year B, 2026
DayTime Forever: The Meaning of Holy Saturday!
Human history has experienced moments of darkness, too long to enumerate. In recent years, all sorts of genocides, ethnic cleansing, wars, slaveries and exploitations continue to cast darkness upon the earth. The darkness of evil and sin is simply ubiquitous. There are serious doubts, in all quarters, whether it will ever be daytime, daytime forever more! Two areas of doubt are the possibility of nuclear extermination of the earth and its inhabitants; the other doubt is whether the human person can be any good besides the evil and sin that inhabits him and her.
Tonight, Holy Saturday Night, we celebrate the beginnings of “Day Time, Day Time Forever More”.
Our first reading makes bold to say that God is Light, because with him is the origin and source of light—“Let there be light, and there was light . . . The first day”. If the human memory suffers from amnesia because of scientific doubts as to the past origin of light, this night dispels that doubt with the light of Christ, a historically verifiable Light that transforms human darkness and makes possible a life of virtue and righteousness. In fact, our proclamation “Lumen Christi — Light of Christ”, followed by our chant of exaltation (Exultet), merges two narratives: the God who said “let there be light” is the same as the resurrected Christ who is our light. God did not disappear from his creation, after the original creation of light; God dwells among his creation as the “light of the world”! The God of creation is the God of redemption through his Son, Jesus Christ. Original light continues as light forever more!
Our liturgical celebration starts in the dark—no artificial lights—to take us back to God, the originator of and original light! We step outside human artifice in order to reconfirm God as the source of and the only light worth that name—light! The celebration around the fire begins a recreation of primal light that humanity has abused and desecrated by sin and the darkness of infidelity. We proclaim Christ as “Light” to perpetuate the presence of Light in the world, despite human sins and wrongdoings. The light of Christ, symbolized by the Paschal Candle, makes the resurrection of Christ the definitive overthrow of darkness! If sin and death seemingly make darkness powerful and ubiquitous, the resurrection of Jesus Christ conquers sin and death forever more.
Yes, “let there be light”, and there appears Jesus Christ from the tomb as the light of the world; “let there be light” and Jesus emerges from the tomb, while it is still dark, as light in the darkness; “let there be light” and there appears Mary Magdalene, whom the world considered a prostitute and possessed, but she appears transformed from sin and becomes an apostle to the apostles (apostola apostolorum) announcing the resurrection. Wherever there is light, there is transformation, even from the death of sin and physical death to the glory of the resurrection.
Our second reading speaks of resilience, in the face of the impossible (Genesis 22)! Once before, humanity experienced the threat of global extermination in the deluge of Genesis 6-10, with Noah, the Ark, and the rainbow as signs that only God decides when the world will come to an end. From one family stalk, humanity continues in being, just like Adam and Eve, one original human family. The experience of covenants reminds humanity of the resilient light of God. From a man, Abraham, as good as dead, scientifically speaking, his barrenness turns into multiple descendants in a night of covenant, where only distant starry skies testify to an abundance of children, a new demographics that beat the imagination hollow! Celestial lights, beyond the reach of human beings, put up God’s light as a paragon of his presence!
If our first reading, Creation Account, from Genesis, is followed by the reading from Exodus on the liberation of the children of God from slavery, it simply reminds us that wherever the light of God is found, every form of slavery is outlawed! The light of God is a virtuous light, besides the visible light that helps us to see where to place our steps not to stumble, to have photosynthesis for our food and solar energy to power our gadgets; it is a moral light that must guide our behavior. If a pillar of fire is the presence of God among his pilgrim children on their way to the Promised Land, the light of God remains the only credible light that must enlighten human social actions and God must remain the reference point for human agencies of fight against evil and sin in every generation, including ours!
The light of Creation (Genesis) and the light of Redemption (Exodus) from slavery in Egypt combine to tell us that God’s light never comes to an end, it remains the light that guides humanity and every soul from earthly life to the life of heaven or beatific light. God’s light is a pilgrim light that travels with every generation of human beings and makes God’s light inextinguishable. It is to confirm the eternity of God’s light that Jesus rose from the dead on “the first day of the week”. If God’s light came into existence on the first day of creation, the eternity of God’s light appears on the “first day of the week”: first day of creation continues into the first day of the week; the last day of creation is when we all repose in the peace of God!
God did not leave out the physically blind from beholding the beauty of his light! Our last, Old Testament, reading from the prophecy of Ezekiel (36) and our first reading from the New Testament (Romans 6) attach every human being directly to God, in order to enjoy the light of God—the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God that was hovering over the formless void to be shaped into creation now lives in every human heart, readily available to recreate it in the image of God and the Temple of God. The water and Spirit at creation become the water of Baptism and the Spirit of Confirmation: two inseparable sacraments of initiation. Water washes away human iniquity, and God’s Holy Spirit regenerates the human person. Here is how Ezekiel puts it: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules”.
The light of a Christian is the Holy Spirit that dwells in every heart. Through the Holy Spirit, we are all children of God by adoption (Galatians 4:4-7). Baptism (Romans 6) transforms us from our indebtedness to sin, grafts us onto Christ (Galatians 3:26–29), and Confirmation gives us the Holy Spirit to live righteous lives: “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh . . . the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 22-25).
“He is risen, he is not here”, from our gospel is the message of immortality and everlasting light. This light of God, Holy Spirit, makes every confession “Jesus is Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3) the work of the Holy Spirit; every good prayer is the presence of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26); human unity/communion is the sign of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12); and, every good action is the evidence of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). This Easter Night, only those who can claim walking by the Holy Spirit and letting their past be bygone (like Mary Magdalene), have risen with Christ and now bask in the inextinguishable light of God. For Christ and Christians, a new day has done, and with it, an inextinguishable light, the light of the resurrected Christ.
In the very darkness of sin, God’s Holy Spirit is alive. Indeed, from this night, we begin “day time, day time forever more”, because there will always be men and women of every age possessing the Holy Spirit and God will continue to work alongside his creatures to tackle darkness.