Our Theme this Holy Thursday is “the Eucharist and the Works of Mercy.”
One name for the Eucharist in our beautiful Catholic Tradition is to call it “the Sacrament of Charity.” It is almost the same thing to say that the Eucharist unites us to our Lord Jesus Christ more deeply, and to say that we grow in the virtue of true charity when we receive the body and blood of Jesus with true and living faith.
It is no wonder! Indeed, to enter into the offering of the Eucharist should be synonymous with the remembrance of the greatest work of mercy that any human being ever accomplished. Christ’s death on the cross freed us from sin and death… so that we might know the joy of loving God and neighbor.
Notice that when we take this Gospel from John, and superimpose it on other Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, we find that Jesus’s complete humility – his determination to perform the lowliest and most generous, most benevolent, most merciful act of slave-like service – is presented in the almost same moment of the Last Supper as the giving of the Eucharist.
“The Eucharist and the Works of Mercy.” But to make the powerful connection more evident by examples, we might do very well to examine the life of our own parish patron: St. John Vianney’s Works of Mercy. Let us take some moments to contemplate the examples.
- His insistence that people need to be there at Mass, and worship the Eucharistic Lord
- E.g. His liberty to say often they were headed to spending eternity with the devil and not with God!
- Yet his astounding generosity and care for the poor at the same time! He displayed often the CORPORAL works of mercy.
- The French “Legion of Honor” story – “Can it help the poor? … I would rather use the 6 franks to feed 6 poor people for the day.”
- The Providence (shelter the homeless and clothe the naked… and the orphan).
- The story of his pawned-off mozetta – “Give it to my assistant. It will look better on him.” “Bishop, what a gift to help the needy in our parish… I got a good price for it!”
- Of course he would also visit the sick and the dying, being a priest.
- The Spiritual Works of Mercy
- Admonish the Sinner – he knew the sins his penitents had forgotten about!
- Counsel the doubtful – many came to him because their faith had been profoundly shaken, and they were looking for a sure hope.
- Instruct the ignorant – even with 3 day lines the the confessional queues, he would not skip the catechism lesson for the kids!
- Forgive offenses willingly and Bear wrongs patiently – the petition to have him removed as cure!
God be praised for the merits of Saint John Vianney, our parish patron.
Doing the works of mercy is not some magical conjuring of some goodness within ourselves. It is the participation in a goodness that has already reached us – reached us from God’s initiative. And having reached us, it overflows.
In a universal and invisible way, that goodness overflows from the celebration of the Mass. In a particular and almost visible way, that goodness overflows into us when we spend time in prayer. In a clear and visible way, we are merely living according to the goodness we received from Jesus, as our prayer overflows into the works of mercy.
Ubi Petrus VT 