Bible Study, Prayer, and Homily Resources
by Fr. Tommy Lane
Jesus died for us; Jesus saved us. We all know this. We know what it means for us: when we die, God our Father will, so to speak, look on us through the prism of Jesus’ death for our salvation and instead of giving us what we deserve for our sins, give us eternal life with him. During the Last Supper, when Jesus passed the bread to the apostles, anticipating his death on Calvary the following day, he said, “This is my body given for you.” He did not say, “This is my body given to you” but “This is my body given for you.” Jesus’ sacrifice of himself was for our salvation.
But we want to share now in the salvation Jesus brought us and not have to wait until the next life. How do share in the benefits of Jesus’ death for us and salvation now? (How do we share in Jesus’ resurrection now?) Our first reading contained the instructions for the Jewish people for their first Passover meal before they left Egypt during the Exodus and which they celebrate every year since. Jewish people regard that Exodus as present each time they celebrate Passover. In a book I read, a Jewish rabbi said every Jewish child is born a few thousand years old because when celebrating Passover, they are spiritually present again at the original events (Dimock 101 Questions and Answers on the Eucharist p39). The last supper was a Passover meal that Jesus took and changed to give us our Mass. When we celebrate Mass, we are 2000 years old because Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” and for the Jewish apostles listening to Jesus, this meant that when they would celebrate the Eucharist in the future, they would be spiritually present again when Jesus gave his body for them and for us, and so spiritually present at Calvary. In our Catholic teaching we put it like this: the sacrifice of the Mass is the same sacrifice that Jesus offered on the cross; on the cross Jesus’ sacrifice was bloody, but in the Mass it is unbloody. Each Mass is not a new sacrifice or adding to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross but is the same sacrifice of Jesus (Catechism of the Catholic Church §162-168; DS 1743). At Mass we are 2000 years old, present at Calvary, participating in Jesus’ offering of himself in sacrifice to the Father for us.
We are aware we are spiritually present at Calvary during Mass when the priest says the words of the consecration and the bread and wine are offered to our Father in heaven to become the body and blood of Jesus and we offer Jesus to the Father. But how specifically can we share now in the salvation Jesus brought us and not have to wait until the next life? The answer is: Holy Communion is our participation now in the saving effects of Jesus’ death for us. In John 6, we read Jesus saying, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” (John 6:53-54) We share now in the salvation Jesus gained for us when we receive him in Holy Communion. Those words of Jesus are very strong, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” (John 6:53) Of course praying at home is better than nothing, but to fully participate in Jesus’ life now and the salvation he gained for us through his death for us, we receive the Eucharist, Jesus’ body given for us.
One of our acclamations after the consecration is the end of our second reading today (1 Cor 11:26): “when we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord, until you come again.” When we receive the Eucharist, we proclaim Jesus’ death; we are announcing the death of Jesus for us. We truly believe that when we receive Holy Communion, we are united with Jesus in his death and resurrection, and present spiritually at Jesus’ death and receiving his salvation now.
We also read in in John 6 Jesus saying, “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6:55-56) So, when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion; he remains in us and we in him. When a husband and wife marry, to use the language of Genesis, they are no longer two but one. They are a unity looking after one another, helping each other, raising a family, and a unity in so many other ways. When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we are one with him, a unity. As Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6:55-56) Holy Communion is our participation now in the saving effects of Jesus’ death for us.
When God our Father will look on us after death, he will, so to speak, look on us through the prism of Jesus’ death and instead of giving us what we deserve, give us eternal life with him. But why waste time until then? The benefits of Jesus’ death are for us now in the Eucharist: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you . . . whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6:53-56)
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2025
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for Holy Thursday
Jesus’ Body and Blood given for us 2021
Jesus our Passover Lamb consumed in the Eucharist 2015
Jesus shares his priesthood with the apostles during the Last Supper 2008
The Eucharist and the Priesthood were born during the Last Supper
Related Homilies:
Homilies on Priesthood Homilies on Vocation