First reading: Exodus 24:3-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 116
Second reading: Hebrews 9:11-15
Gospel reading: Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
"'Take this,' He said, 'this is My Body'".
From the gospel of Mark, we find a brief account of the Last
Supper. It begins with the scene wherein Jesus' disciples asked
their Master where He wished to celebrate the Passover supper.
Jesus gave His disciples instructions to go into the city, follow
a man carrying a water jar until he enters into a house, and then
ask the owner of the house for a guest-room for them to eat the
Passover meal. As the disciples followed Jesus' instructions,
they found it just as Jesus told them - and they were given an
upstairs room, spacious and all in order. It is in this upstairs
room where Jesus ate the Last Supper with His apostles. This
gospel passage of Mark reflects what we always hear in the Mass
as the bread and wine is consecrated:
"...He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
'Take this,' He said, 'this is My Body.' He likewise took a cup...
He said to them: 'This is my blood...to be poured out on behalf
of many'".
If we place ourselves in the shoes of the apostles, we would
probably not know or understand well what Jesus meant by this
action of His during the Last Supper. In the gospels, we are
always made aware that even the apostles of Jesus did not
understand what He was teaching or doing. They did not understand
the parables of Jesus unless Jesus explained it to them. This is
because Jesus speaks very deeply about the mystery of God, and the
life God has destined for us. And one of the deep mysteries in
which Jesus speaks about before His disciples, is the mystery of
His Body and Blood. This is the mystery and the miracle which we
witness everyday in the celebration of the Eucharist: the
transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and the Blood
of Christ Jesus - "Corpus Christi".
Just as our bodies need nourishment, so that we may obtain the
strength we need to work well, and be at the service of our
family, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, so too our soul
needs to be nourished with spiritual food. Jesus is our spiritual
food. He is the Bread that came down from Heaven. He who eats
this Bread will have eternal life. By the sacrifice of Jesus on
the Cross, He has given us His very self, so that when we eat and
drink His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we shall also receive
the fruits of the Resurrection: new life, that leads to eternal
life, and communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
