When we love someone, we want to spend time with him or her, don’t we? We don’t want to be far away from that person – and when we are far away, we can’t wait until we see him or her again.
Tonight, we gather as a community to recognize that Jesus loved his disciples so much that he did not want to leave them like sheep without a shepherd. It was a struggle in his heart: yet Jesus knew his time had come. During the last celebration of the Passover with his friends at the Last Supper, Jesus gave them a gift that allowed them to remain in communion with each other.
Not only did Jesus wash the feet of his disciples, giving them an example of humble service to follow, at the Last Supper Jesus offered his body and blood so he would close to his friends – and all those who would come afterwards.
Not long after the resurrection, Saint Luke describes that Jesus was walking along the road to the town of Emmaus with two disciples. As they reached their destination and evening drew near, the disciples said to Jesus without realizing who he was, “remain with us Lord, for it is almost evening.”
These are words of affection: “Remain with us.” Stay with us because we enjoy your company, we want to spend more time with you, and we don’t want you to get hurt if you keep walking in the night.
When the disciples asked Jesus to remain with them, they really did not realize what they were asking. Jesus not only remained with them for dinner, but at dinner, Jesus blessed the bread, and in the breaking of bread the disciples recognized him. They asked Jesus to remain with them, and he did, but not just for the evening; he remained with them, present in the Eucharist, for the rest of their lives.
“Remain with us Lord”
Saint Paul in the second reading describes what he received and encourages the early Christians to do the same, “I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also the cup, after supper.” This sounds familiar to us as Catholics, because for 2000 years we have done the same thing, faithful to Jesus’ instructions.
Every time that a Mass is celebrated, we are asking Jesus to remain with us, and he gladly obliges. Jesus remains with us not only because we love him and we want him near, but because he loves us and he wants to remain with us.
The power of what we celebrate tonight – the institution by Jesus of this wonderful Sacrament of the Eucharist – is that our God is not distant or indifferent – he chooses to be among us –to remain with us because he enjoys our company.
Tonight, at the conclusion of Mass, we will process with the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose outside the church. The tabernacle will be empty, and Jesus invites us to stay with him for a while in prayer. “Remain with me,” he says to us, “remain with me in my hour of pain and sorrow, in the hour of betrayal and imprisonment.”
The empty tabernacle prepares us for tomorrow’s events – the Lord has been taken from us, and placed in the tomb.
The Lord chooses to remain with us – do we choose to remain with him? Tonight, we have the opportunity to remain with him, even if for a few minutes.
We remain close to him during these next few days when we remember his passion, death and eventual resurrection.
Open our hearts Lord, so that we may receive the graces you have in store for us in these holiest of days. Amen.
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