Sunday Meditation: Holy Week and the Institution of the Eucharist

I’ve had several posts on Palm Sunday over the years.  The latest from Year A was three years ago where you could hear Dr. Brant Pitre explain Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem and about the two donkeys of Matthew’s version.  Or you can hear Fr. Geoffrey Plant explain Palm Sunday on a Year C Gospel reading.  Or you can just search all my “Palm Sunday” blog posts to pull them all up. 

Today I want to focus on Holy Week and the Institution of the Eucharist.  The Passion reading stretches across the week and includes Matthew’s version of the Institution narrative.  But I want also post a summary of the Holy Week Gospel events.  This is a simplified listing of the salient events.  It is not comprehensive.

 

Jesus Raises Lazerus	Week Prior to Palm Sunday
Jesus Retreats to Ephriam	Week Prior to Palm Sunday
Jesus Travels Back to Bethany	Week Prior to Palm Sunday
Mary Anoints Jesus	Saturday Before Palm Sunday
Jesus Enters Jerusalem	Palm Sunday
Jesus Cleans the Temple	Holy Monday
Jesus Sermon on the End of Times	Holy Tuesday
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus	Holy Wednesday/Spy Wednesday
The Last Supper	Holy Thursday
Jesus’s Anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane	Holy Thursday Evening
Jesus is Apprehended	Holy Thursday Evening
Jesus’s Trial Before the Sanhedrin	Holy Thursday Evening
Jesus’s Trial Before Pilate	Early Good Friday Morning
Jesus is Scourged, Crucified, Dies, and Buried	Good Friday
Jesus’s Harrowing of Hell	Holy Saturday
Jesus’s Resurrection	Easter Sunday

 

 

 

Here is the Institution Narrative from Matthew’s Passion.

 

 

While they were eating,

Jesus took bread, said the blessing,

broke it, and giving it to his disciples said,

"Take and eat; this is my body."

Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,

"Drink from it, all of you,

for this is my blood of the covenant,

which will be shed on behalf of many

for the forgiveness of sins.

I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine

until the day when I drink it with you new

in the kingdom of my Father."

Then, after singing a hymn,

they went out to the Mount of Olives.

~Mt:26:26-29

 

I will start with a pastoral homily first this Sunday.  Fr. Thomas McCarthy of the Order of St. Augustine—the same Order from which Pope Leo XIV heralds—explains Palm Sunday and the Institution of the Eucharist.

 

Fr. Thomas McCarthy:

It was at that meal that he instituted the priesthood and the Eucharist by taking bread and saying, "This is my body. Do this in memory of me." By taking the chalice filled with wine and saying, "This is my blood. Do this in memory of me. As Catholics, we say those words every time we go to mass. We are doing exactly what Jesus said. He did not say this is a symbol.  He did not say this is kind of almost/sort of/like/maybe. He said this is my body. This is my blood. Do it in memory of me. And so that's why as Catholics we believe in the real presence that the Eucharist is not a symbol. It is not a reenactment. is not a kind of sort of like almost maybe. And so it all happened at the last supper. And it was also at that last supper that Jesus humbled himself, took the form of a slave and washed his disciples feet.

So what are we to do this week?  Fr. Thomas says, “This holy week begins today and I hope that all of us will take time to truly celebrate and prayerfully be attentive to what's happening this week.  So my friends, how good it is that we are here. And I just want to encourage us all to really live out this this week.

To explain Holy Week, I found this new YouTube channel called Catholic Snack that explains Catholic theology and Catholic news of the day.  Here is the video on the Holy Week events.

 

Catholic Snack:

This is Holy Week. And if you've never understood what really happened during those eight days, stay with me because this story will change the way you see everything.  Every year, Christians around the world enter into a sacred season called Holy Week, the final week of Lent leading up to Easter Sunday. But for many people, sit can feel like a blur of church services, prayers, and traditions without fully grasping the weight of what actually happened. Holy Week is not just a religious calendar event. It is the story of God stepping fully into human suffering, betrayal, abandonment, agony, death, and then doing something no one expected. It is the greatest story ever told. And it happened in real time over eight unforgettable days. So, let's walk through it together, day by day, step by step.

That is pretty good for a “snack.”  I wonder why they named themselves that.  I have not found any background on this channel.  I found this part on Holy Saturday profound.

Catholic Snack:

We live so much of our lives on Holy Saturday, in the in between, after the loss, before the answer, in the silence where God seems absent, but is in fact working. The church's tradition tells us that on this day Christ descended to the dead, reaching even into the depths to bring light where there had only ever been darkness.  In the silence of Holy Saturday, God was not absent. He was at work in the places we couldn't see.  This is the day of waiting, of darkness before dawn, of faith without sight. And sit is one of the most important lessons of Holy Week. Because most of us know this place. Most of us have sat in this silence. And Holy Saturday tells us, "Hold on. Morning is coming, Sunday.

I loved this as a conclusion.

Catholic Snack:

Holy Week is not a story that happened 2,000 years ago and stayed there. It is a story that is still happening in every person who carries a cross they didn't choose.  In every moment of betrayal, grief, and silence, in every mourning that arrives when you thought the darkness would never end, Jesus walked through all of it. He didn't observe it from a safe distance. He entered it fully, flesh, blood, tears, nails, and all so that no human experience would ever be outside the reach of his presence. When you are in your Palm, Sunday, joyful, full of hope, he is there. When you are in your Gethsemane, afraid on your knees, asking God to take the cup away, he is there.  When you are in your Holy Saturday, silent, waiting, uncertain, he is there. And he is always, always moving toward Easter. This Holy Week, I invite you not just to observe the liturgy, but to enter the story, to let it find you where you are, to allow the passion of Christ to speak to your own.  Because that is what Holy Week is for.  Not to make us spectators, but to make us witnesses.

 

 

Sunday Meditation: “I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father."

 

This is supposed to be a traditional hymn for Palm Sunday, “All Glory, Laud, and Honor.”

 

All glory, laud, and honour

to you, Redeemer, King!

To whom the lips of children

made sweet hosannas ring.

 

You are the King of Israel

and David's royal Son,

now in the Lord's name coming,

the King and Blessed One.

 

ll glory, laud, and honour

to you, Redeemer, King!

To whom the lips of children

made sweet hosannas ring.

 

The company of angels

are praising you on high;

and mortals joined with all things

created make reply.

 

All glory, laud, and honour

to you, Redeemer, King!

To whom the lips of children

made sweet hosannas ring.