A. Institution of the Eucharist
• If we say institution of the Eucharist and the institution of the priesthood, it means that this was the time when the Eucharist and the priesthood was established by Jesus
• The institution of the eucharist and the institution of the priesthood happened during the last supper just a few moments before Jesus would undergo the horrors of the passion starting in the garden of Gethsemane
• First is the institution of the Eucharist. In the 1st reading in Exodus it tells us of the story of the Passover Meal and all the details of how to eat the roasted lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs while some blood is splattered on their doors
• The angel will skip or pass over the house with blood markings on the door and the Israelites are spared from death and they are on the road to freedom. So the blood, saved the Israelites from the wrath of the angel of death
• The Passover meal is the precursor or the preparation of the Last Supper where Jesus and the disciples shared the bread and wine so that sins may be forgiven as what we have heard in the 2nd reading in 1 Corinthians
• Look at now the combination: the flesh and blood of the lamb in exodus and they are spared from death and freed from slavery, the bread and wine in 1 Corinthians which is the flesh and blood of our Lord and our sins are forgiven. We are freed from the slavery of sin
• If the Passover is the precursor of the Last Supper, the Last Supper anticipates or foreshadows the BLOODY sacrifice of the cross
• After the last supper Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane. And there Jesus cried and sweat it out in tears and sweats of blood
• It is not simply just an agony but it was also the moments of psychological torture as Jesus is shown all the horrors of the crucifixion that will soon befall upon him and it was so horrifying so his sweat and his tears are in blood
• And not only that it was also a great moment of temptation even just for a few moments that Jesus was tempted so he even asked the Father if he can remove this cup of suffering but he quickly relented: Father, let your will be done
• And so this is something that we should always be on guard at all times, that at the pinnacle of the moment of temptation, Satan is there, to destroy what God has planned
• The disciples in the meantime simply slept, a little bit drunk or tipsy from the wine of the Last Supper. The Passover meal is a long rite and they are all tired
• There was blood in Gethsemane, the splattering of blood from the merciless scourging at the pillar, to the blood that oozed from the wounds inflicted by the crown of thorns
• And finally the excruciating pain of the crucifixion where the rough and rusty nails are driven through his hands and feet where jets of blood are emitted as the veins and arteries are punctured
• And at the foot of the cross he was pierced with a lance that ripped his flesh tearing his heart apart and blood gushed forth from the gaping wound on his side. And Jesus breathed his last, the sacrifice is offered
• This is the bloody sacrifice of the cross and it happened more than 2,000 years ago in the rugged hills of Calvary in Golgotha
• Now we go forward, we go to the present. We are now celebrating the Holy Eucharist, the Holy sacrifice of the Mass, the breaking of the bread, the one that we are participating at this very moment
• We are now celebrating the memorial, the remembrance, the reckoning, the commemoration of the bloody sacrifice of the cross
• This is now the unbloody sacrifice of the cross as there is not a single drop of blood is seen. There are no more shreds of flesh or stains of blood in the altar
• If the Last Supper anticipates the sacrifice of the cross, the Eucharist is now the memorial of the sacrifice of the cross
• Therefore in our life as Christians, the cross is the center, because the cross, is the pinnacle, the climax, the grandeur, the epitome of the entire history of salvation
• And this is the meaning of the institution of the Eucharist

B. Institution of the Priesthood
• What is now this institution of the priesthood? First of all, we have to understand the role of a priest
• A priest is the one who offers a sacrifice to God for the sake of the people. He gathers the people to pray and be united as one in prayer
• We see this in the OT where the family of Levites offer the animal sacrifices of the people in the temple
• In theology we have the term tria munera – the 3 roles of Jesus as king, prophet, and priest. Jesus is a high priest and he plays the role of a mediator between God and man gathering the people and uniting them offering sacrifices to make them holy
• And Jesus as a priest offers the supreme sacrifice. And what is that supreme sacrifice? Jesus offered his own self for us all
• When Jesus said in the Last Supper: “Do this in memory of me” this is already the commissioning that we will continue to gather together over and over again around the sacrifice of the cross made present in the Eucharist until he will come back again. This is the institution of the priesthood
• The continuity of the celebration of the Eucharist is made possible by the ministerial or sacramental priesthood brought about by the grace of ordination in the holy orders
• Now, if sacrifices must be made holy, God is calling every one of us to be holy
• And if we gather together as one people, we pray together, we offer sacrifices, we pray for one another, we intercede for one another we already share the priesthood of Jesus. This is what we call the universal priesthood.
• The universal priesthood is the universal call to holiness. This universal priesthood is made possible by virtue of the grace of baptism. That is why blessings can be given by anybody by virtue of the universal priesthood

C. Love One Another
• The last point is loving one another. This exhortation to love one another is very much expressed in the reenactment of the washing of the feet that we saw
• For the Jews, the master kneels down and washes the feet of the arriving visitor with water wiping it clean and dry with a towel
• Kneeling before a guest and washing his feet clean are powerful symbols of humility
• The master becomes a servant, but what kind of a servant? A servant leader. The essence of true leadership is genuine service to others
• The essence of loving one another is serving one another
• Jesus has exemplified this as he said: If I therefore the master and teacher have washed your feet, then, you ought to wash one another’s feet
• So what I have done for you, you should also do. That is why we saw just a few minutes back that the priest and the disciples washed each other’s feet
• And reading beyond the lines of the drama of the washing of the feet lies the very core of the message of Jesus, loving one another is serving one another
• That is the meaning of the commandment: “Love one another”