Mass of the Lord's Supper (Eucharist & Priesthood) Five Martyrs of Shreveport

Today, we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper, the first Mass. At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the Sacred Priesthood. The Last Supper was in the context of the Jewish Passover meal.

During the Passover meal, Jesus instituted the holy sacrifice of the Holy Mass. He changed bread and wine into His body and blood. Our Lord said, "This is my body, which will be given up for you." Then when He took the chalice, and said, "This is the chalice of my blood, which will be shed for you.", He changed wine into His blood.

At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted two sacraments, the Holy Eucharist and the sacred priesthood. Part of the ordination rite of Jewish priests in the Old Covenant involved washing (Ex 29:4; Lev 8:6). During the Last Supper, Jesus washed the apostles’ feet. While Jesus performed this action to teach his apostles to serve, rather than be served, we could say it also resembles and calls to mind the washing that preceded the ordination of the Jewish priests of the Old Covenant.

I wonder if the apostles later saw the foot washing in a new sense, calling to mind the washing was part of the ordination of Jewish priests in the Old Covenant. 

The resurrection of Jesus and His words to the apostles in today’s Gospel, also confirm a change in the priesthood from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. In the Old Covenant there were many Jewish priests offering sacrifices in the temple daily, but in the New Covenant there is one priest, Jesus, who offered Himself in sacrifice once on the Cross and He shared His priesthood with the apostles and their successors during the Last Supper.

There is a change in the priesthood from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant and Jesus’ resurrection shows that God is doing a new thing. We could say Jesus completes the sharing of His priesthood with the apostles during His encounter with them on Easter Sunday as he breathed on them giving them the Holy Spirit and commissioned them to forgive sins in his name, saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained".

As priests they began to act in the person of Jesus and consecrate bread and wine into His body and blood when they offered Mass, absolve sins in Confession, anoint the sick, baptize, witness marriages, and bishops would ordain priests and confer the sacrament of Confirmation.

Thanks be to God for the gift of the priesthood! The priests of the New Covenant continue the mission of Jesus the Priest.

Please pray for more vocations to the priesthood and support vocations to the priesthood. If a family and parish shows its love for and support for priests, we can expect priests to arise from that family and parish including ours.

Jesus gave us priests, so that we may have the Eucharist and receive the other sacraments.

What kind of effect is the Eucharist to have on our lives? Jesus washing His disciples’ feet during the Last Supper when He gave them the Eucharist for the first time, surely teaches us that the Eucharist is linked with service.

Our attendance at Mass and receiving Holy Communion should lead us to love all our brothers and sisters in a sacrificial way. After Mass, we are sent to love and serve the Lord in others.

St. Augustine, writing about the Eucharist, said that if we receive Holy Communion worthily, we are what we receive; when we receive Christ in the Eucharist, we too are to sacrifice ourselves, as we become what we eat.

Just as Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it, when we receive the Eucharist, we are to allow ourselves to be taken by Jesus, blessed, broken and given in love for others. In that sense, the words of St. Paul become true, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”

Many priests live heroic lives, and go unnoticed. But, sometimes their heroic lives become known, such as the five priest martyrs from Shreveport, Louisiana.

In 1873, the Yellow Fever epidemic lasted from late August to mid-November. Five priests from Shreveport died between Sept. 15 and Oct. 8. The priests did not ask, "What will happen to me, if I go?" Rather, they asked, "What will happen to the people if I don't go." These priests offered the Holy Mass, heard Confessions for the sick and dying, gave them Holy Communion and bestowed the Last Rites preparing them for death.

Imagine if they would not have sacrificed themselves, many would have died in mortal sin, and would not have been prepared for their judgment. Jesus used these priests to save souls and give witness to their life of self-giving, that flowed from the Eucharist.

During the COVID-19 in 2020, some bishops forbade their priests to give sacraments to the sick and dying. Other priests were afraid they would die if they gave Anointing of the Sick and Holy Communion to the sick and dying.

Sadly, some died without the sacraments. But, there were heroic priests who gave the Holy Eucharist, absolved sins, and anointed the sick and dying, risking their lives.

The sacred priesthood and the Holy Eucharist are beautiful gifts God has given to the world, to help souls obtain eternal life. Let us daily pray for priests, pray in thanksgiving for the Holy Mass and Holy Communion and let us pray for more vocations to the priesthood, so that in every generation, Jesus will be with His people until the end of time. 

O Mary, Mother of Priests and Mother of the Eucharist, help us to appreciate and protect these sacred gifts.