St. Joseph Cathedral celebrates the Lord’s Supper

The Paschal Triduum began in the Diocese of Buffalo with the solemn Holy Thursday evening Mass celebrated at St. Joseph Cathedral by Bishop Michael W. Fisher.

As Bishop Fisher reminded us in his homily, the three days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and culminating with the Easter Vigil should not be looked at as three separate celebrations but rather as one journey with the Lord in the Paschal Mystery.

“The Triduum is truly the heart of our faith and culmination of what we as Christians believe. It is what we are about, it is who we are, and why we come to celebrate,” Bishop Fisher continued. “We begin today with the celebration of Lord’s gift of the most Holy Eucharist given through the priesthood that He instituted. 

“Tomorrow, we enter the mystery of our Lord’s passion and death and his crucifixion. Saturday, after sundown, we enter into that glory of the resurrection,” he said.

Holy Thursday, which begins the Triduum, (three days in Latin) opens with the last Supper which is a Passover meal with Jesus and his disciples that provides us the gift that brings us our salvation.

This gift of the Holy Eucharist, which Bishop Fisher explained is a gift that we can never fully fathom or comprehend, it is a gift of His complete self-giving and sacrificial love. 

“The Eucharist is God himself, present in our world and given to us to transform us in what we consume,” he continued. “When we consume the Eucharist, we become part of Christ.”

Through the action of the washing of the apostles’ feet, so he could teach them and us that His body and Blood are given as to enable us to love as He loved. Love is just not about feeling, but about doing.

“The Eucharist transforms us into true servants who are called to humility, that beautiful virtue. That service can take on, as you know, various forms, but all of us are called as Christians. Do you serve those around you, do you humble yourselves before others to care for their basic needs? Do you show them that you love them with your actions? This is at the heart of Holy Thursday; humble service is a beautiful expression of our own intimate union with the Son of God,” he concluded.

Photos by Nicole Dzimira