Msgr. Andrew Varga, pastor of St. Luke Parish in Westport, Connecticut, sent in this terrific homilette on Spy Wednesday.
So…
Here we are…
Six weeks ago to the day we stood here with smudges of ash on our foreheads.
We were well-meaning and eager to make a promise to ourselves
and to all the church and all the world
that we would take seriously the 40 days of baptismal renewal which lay ahead.
We “gave up” some things;
we promised to “take up” some things
to improve our relationships with God and one another.
Many days have passed;
did routine sneak back in?
I see Jesus on this Wednesday of Holy Week like a professor on the last day of class. He’s done his best to impart his wisdom to us.
His final exam, face-to-face, for each of us consists of one question:
“So, dear student-disciple, what have you learned?”
For 40 days, morning after morning, day after day,
God has opened our ears that we may hear,
opened our minds that we might know,
opened our hearts that we might embrace
the real truth of who we are
and the truth of who God is for us.
We sit around the table with him,
each of us taking our piece of pita bread
and hungrily dipping into the fragrant feasting-dish with him
and then we hear the incomprehensible:
“the one who has dipped into the dish with me will betray me.”
ME??? You gotta be kidding!
(Please, say you’re messing with me!)
Surely, not I, Lord.
Yes, you. You have taken Eucharist-feast many times
and then have been less than I know you can be…
But it’s not just you…
It’s ME…
I am doing the work of your redemption.
You need only dip and feast.
See also these related articles:
