On Holy Thursday Our Lord's heart was bursting with love for his followers.

Thursday, 4/17/14

As followers of Jesus let’s look at the love he had for his followers on Holy Thursday. In Luke’s Gospel we read where Jesus said, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” But if we translate literally when Luke quoted Jesus as saying, it is much stronger. Jesus actually said, “With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you.”

When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion we love him as much as we can. In his saying that he eagerly desired to be with us, Jesus was saying that he longed for the intimacy he would feel when he came to you and me in Communion. It was like a future groom longing to be one with his beloved.

What might Jesus have been feeling as he washed the feet of each of his disciples? St. John described how Jesus felt as he was taking off his outer robe, preparing to wash their feet. John wrote, “Having loved his disciples, he loved them to the end.” He handled each man’s feet lovingly.

Then, after the meal he gave his disciples the special commandment of loving one another: “This is my commandment, that you love one another.”

How much did he want them to love one another? You know the answer to that. They had t love one another as much as he loved them. That should tell us that at that moment Our Lord’s heart was bursting with love for them.

Then, how much deep disappointment did he feel when he asked, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”