Holy Thursday Mass--We Were Caught Up in Being Loved to the End

John Placing His Head on the Heart of Christ

There have occasionally been moments in my life when during the Sacred Liturgy I feel like we have been taken away into someplace beyond.  A sensation that we have been lifted out of time and placed into the realms of eternal glory.  A profound experience of being no longer separated from the events of the Gospel by the passing of centuries.  A realization that we are not looking back at these events, separated from them by time and space, but rather living them from the inside.  That these events are present now.  

Last night, this was my experience during the Mass of the Lord's Supper.  Gathered with the BU Catholic community in our chapel, I knew that what we were doing was way beyond what were capable of doing.  It was as though we had closed our eyes for the briefest of moments and, having opened them again, discovered that we were in the Upper Room.  His Divine Presence was heavy upon us.  

He took our little offerings.  He took our vestments, candles, incense, our voices, our bodies, our bread, and our wine and used these to manifest his Divine Love.  We offered what little we could.  He accepted and gave back to us His tremendous and awesome Love.  We offered ourselves to be used and He filled us with His Glory.

As we live our life together at the BU Catholic Center, I am often aware that there is something bigger going on than we realize.  In our daily life together, I am aware that we have been brought here by Another.  I am aware that He is at work among us.  But, last night at Holy Thursday Mass, it was as though the veil had been lifted for a moment and the full weight of His Glory and Love was made known to us.  There was a profound sense of coherence.  The life that we live together--in all of its beauty, joy, and friendship--was born in the Upper Room.  It was born in the Heart of Christ and lives within that Heart even now.  We live our life together on the inside of the Heart of Christ.

Christ loves us.  Christ loves in us.  Christ loves through us.  

I do not think that I was alone in this experience last night.  Something happened.  Heaven--the Heart of Christ--opened and as the words of the Gospel said, "Having loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the end."  Last night, we were loved by Christ and were shown the depth of this love.  He loves us to the end.