Maundy Thursday and Good Friday - a short reflection

7 April 2019

As the most solemn period in the liturgical calendar of the Church, I am always moved to participate in the Easter Triduum liturgy with deeper reverence and seriousness. The somberness of Maundy Thursday and the darkness of Good Friday prepares me to better appreciate the joy and glory of Easter Sunday.

What stands out for me most on Maundy Thursday which commemorates the Last Supper is the reading from John's Gospel (Chapter 13) where we see Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. This is also the rite in the liturgy and thanks to Pope Francis, we are now seeing more women and people of varied backgrounds representing the disciples of Jesus and getting their feet washed too.

The spirituality of the Daughters of St Paul centres on Jesus as the Divine Master, the Way, Truth and Life, but he is a Master who does not dominate or abuse his power. Rather, he serves and loves with tenderness, and we as his disciples are invited to imitate him in his unconditional love. It is this very scene of the washing of the feet which brings to the fore for me on what the mission of Jesus was and what I, as a disciple of the Divine Master, am called to live. The significance of this humble and loving act of Jesus washing his disciples' feet not only shows a Master who stoops down to serve but is also symbolic of his very life on earth, a life of love.

From the incarnation where God stoops down from heaven to be among us on earth, to the end of Jesus' earthly life which culminates in the crucifixion and death on the cross, we witness one single act of the surrender of power in love and for love.

We remember and celebrate the death of Jesus and give reverence to the cross especially on Good Friday. In his powerlessness, Jesus displays his ultimate power - the power to love and to save.

The suffering and death of Jesus has traditionally been seen as an act of reparation for our sins and for our salvation, but over the years, my understanding of the significance of the cross has also evolved. Beyond Saint Anselm's theory of satisfaction - that Christ suffered crucifixion to atone for human sin, satisfying God's anger - contemporary theology proposes an alternative perspective which is that Christ's suffering on Good Friday reveals God's compassion with all who suffer throughout history. The salvation in the cross is not the suffering endured but the faithful love poured out by God in Jesus. This event is not limited to the past as Christ continues to suffer in humanity today, in his mystical body, and more importantly, God continues to accompany the whole of humanity in her suffering with compassion and love.

While some Good Friday reflections and devotions place emphasis on the agony and suffering of the historical Jesus, and while these used to evoke sentimentality and pity within me and sorrow for my own sinfulness, today I am also challenged to see the crucifixion as the result of the sin and evil of Jesus' time and which continues in our time. The recent terrorist mass shootings in the mosques in New Zealand is just one example of the sin and evil prevalent today. Yet in faith we believe that God continues to be with us, and suffers with us. As we know, death does not have the last word. The joy of Easter is the realisation in faith that we share in the resurrection of Jesus and his transformation of death, evil and sin, and in this we are saved. As Easter people called to reflect the love and compassion of God amidst the evil and sin around us, our task is to be God's loving presence in the world too. The Gospel passage of the last supper on Maundy Thursday aptly concludes with the invitation of Jesus to his disciples then and now, "Love one another." 

(Published in the Catholic News April 7, 2019)