00:00How are you, dear brothers and sisters?
00:26Good afternoon. It's Thursday afternoon, everything is ready, the time has come. So Jesus and his disciples sat down at the table to eat the Passover meal. However, how far they were that morning from knowing what would happen in the coming hours.
00:48Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his dominion and that he had come from God and was returning to Him.
00:57So he got up from the table, took off his outer garment, and tied a towel around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet.
01:09and dried them with a towel that she had around her waist. When she had finished washing their feet, she put on her cloak and returned to her place.
01:18Then he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am.”
01:29If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
01:37I have given you an example so that you may do the same as I have done for you.
01:44Jesus' last tremendous teaching before departing for the Father's house was to make them understand that love must be visible through service.
01:57There was no money left now. He who does not live to serve, is not fit to live.
02:03This teaching makes it clear that Christianity is not a doctrine, but a way of living, and even more, a way of loving.
02:14We cannot continue to think that we are good Christians just because we have been baptized or because we participate in some liturgical celebration.
02:23From this perspective, could you say that you are a follower of Christ?
02:28Have you learned the lesson he just gave us?
02:31This afternoon we are given the opportunity to review our lives with love.
02:38Will we be found worthy to be called disciples?
02:43On the other hand, Scripture tells us that at the end of the meal, while they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying to them,
02:56"Take and eat, this is my body."
03:00Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
03:16The supper ends, leaving us, embarking on his flesh and blood, food and drink of salvation.
03:23Jesus had already said in the synagogue of Capernaum, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink."
03:38"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of him, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."
03:52The testament of his love would be, from now on, his flesh and his blood, so that whoever eats of them may have life and have it in abundance.
04:03It is sad that there are so many brothers who deprive themselves of this banquet and who therefore live sick in their souls, with deep sadness, with depression, with a tremendous longing to be happy and without being able to achieve it, because they live devoted to the pleasures of the world.
04:22Jesus has left us his body and his blood so that, united to him, in the same way that the vine is united to its branches, the vital current of the Spirit may circulate through all of us.
04:35And you? Are you one of those who think they don't need this food?
04:39Perhaps this afternoon it will already be difficult to reconcile sacramentally with God and thus be prepared to receive the food of angels, since we cannot approach Him if our life is not reconciled with God.
04:55However, if you cannot find a priest to reconcile with today, seek the first opportunity to approach a priest and reconcile with Christ.
05:06He awaits you at the altar table to share all His riches with you.
05:11Do not deprive yourself of this delicacy and seek to fully identify your life with our Master, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and live in love by serving others.
05:23Enjoy this afternoon celebration and fill yourself with God's love to share it with your brothers and sisters.
05:31Until tomorrow.
