Throughout the Lenten season, we will post reflections for holy days and Sundays from both this year’s Lenten reflection booklet, Peace compels us, which includes all-new reflections written by Bishop John Stowe and Michael Martin, and from previously published Lenten booklets; the reflection below was written by Angie O’Gorman for “Coming to consciousness: Reflections for Lent 2011.”.

Click here to see all reflections as they are posted as well as links to other Lenten resources on our Lent 2026 webpage.

REFLECTION FOR Holy Thursday, April 2, 2026

by Angie O’Gorman
Originally published in 2011

Chrism: Isaiah 61:1-3a, 6a, 8b-9 | Revelation 1:5-8 | Luke 4:16-21
Evening Mass of the Last Supper: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 | 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 | John 13:1-15

home tradition still life dining room

From Exodus through the gospel of John and the book of Revelation, today’s readings show us various attempts over the ages at understanding how God is with us and, more than that, what that presence means and requires of us. Communities in our faith tradition probed these mysteries within their historical settings and uncovered different aspects of that presence. For me, Isaiah’s wisdom is a high point: “The Spirit of God is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted …” (61:1)

But John’s account of the Last Supper has perhaps the most difficult answer both to how God is with us and what that requires of us. Throughout Jesus’ ministry he seems to have repeated one particular action often enough that it became a core part of both his message and his method: eating with the enemy. This was Jesus’ way of turning boundaries into unities. At the Last Supper, it wasn’t just the breaking of the bread that was Jesus’ sign and symbol of who God is and how God is with us. It was with whom the bread was broken. This would seem to delegitimize the Christian tendency today to exclude others in the name of Jesus or, worse yet, to militarize Jesus’ message in the name of patriotism.

>> Click here to see more resources for prayer, study and action this Lenten season.

One thought on “Reflection for Holy Thursday, April 2”

  1. I look up and see a grey form in motion
    Long tail up the trunk and ghostly gone.
    A little miracle noted days before
    We feast on the body of a dead man
    Coming back to life daily, hourly
    As bread handed around and taken
    With thanks for another feast for
    Another season of the heart.

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