I apologize for not posting much - if anything - over the past couple of days. With the onset of the Triduum in addition to regular duties, well, you can imagine what it's like.
I've found over the years that Holy Week isn't a physically busy time for priests (at least me), loaded with meetings and what not, but it is an emotionally and intellectually busy week as perparations are made and homilies prepared. I often find that I'm not really sure what day it is because one hour I might be working on the homily for the Easter Vigil and the next hour I'm over in the church preparing for, say, Holy Thursday, all on Wednesday. You get the idea. It always gets worse on Holy Thursday because the preparations - both physical and mental - grow all the more pressing.
For whatever reason, this year I had a very difficult time preparing a homily for Holy Thursday (hence, one has not been posted). There is, of course, much to speak of, and I simply could not decide what angle I wanted to take.
Finally, just before 6:00 this evening - just over an hour before the celebration of the Mass of the Lord's Supper - it hit me.
A young man came to see me yesterday to ask a sincere and heartfelt - if cliche-ish - question: what is the purpose of life?
We see the purpose of life in the celebration of the Lord's Supper: it is love. We were made by Love, in love and for love. Love himself became flesh and gave himself for us on the Cross, which he anticipated with the institution of the Eucharist, his own Body and Blood, which he entrusted to the Church so as to be with us always.
Love still kneels down to wash our feet, to bathe us in his love. This love transforms us and must be shared with our neighbor. Whenever we wonder about the purpose of life, we need only look to the Cross, where we see Love poured out for us.
The purpose of life is love: to be loved by God and to love our neighbor. That's a quick summation of what I preached this evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment