Holy Week: Bishop Deeley Celebrates Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper

PORTLAND---“Tonight, we begin a celebration which culminates with the Vigil of Easter. This is a unity. It is a continuous celebration of light, darkness, happiness, suffering, and ends with joy, and mission.”

Marking the start of the Easter Triduum, Bishop Robert Deeley celebrated Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland (30 pictures below).

“This supper with his disciples was the first time he broke bread with them in this way and told them to do the same,” Bishop Deeley told the large assembly. “We reflect on that as we celebrate tonight in the midst of our Eucharistic Revival. Holy Thursday, the day on which Jesus instituted the Eucharist and celebrated it with his disciples for the first time, is an appropriate time to reflect on this gift. Under the same full moon that Jesus celebrated this evening, we do the same.”

Bishop Deeley said that Jesus knew human beings need to be loved and need to love and that on Holy Thursday, Jesus gave us three gifts that would extend his Passion, the proof of his love, throughout all of history.

“He gave us the Eucharist, his real presence nourishing us in every celebration of the Eucharist, every time we receive him in Holy Communion, and every time we visit him in the tabernacle or attend adoration,” Bishop Deeley said. “He gave us the priesthood, the instrument through all time and space in which his own merciful, wise, and healing love comes into the world. He gave us the commandment of true love, so we would know how to love truly by serving others, not indulging ourselves. He showed us how to live the Eucharist.”

And the way in which we deepen within ourselves an appreciation of God’s love for us, added the bishop, is to spend time with Jesus in the Eucharist.

“I often say that it is hard to have a conversation with someone who is not listening. Jesus is present for us in the Eucharist. Spending quiet time with him, praying, reading, reflecting, opens us to listening to him and being aware that he is with us. And, of course, we find him with us when we gather for liturgy or receive the sacraments. It is in all these moments that Jesus assures us of his love for us.”

The Holy Thursday Gospel (Jn 13:1-15) included the account of the washing of the feet as Jesus “poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet” before the Last Supper, a powerful example of how we are called to serve and care for one another as Jesus said “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

To highlight the mandate of loving service and humility in the Lord’s name, Bishop Deeley washed the feet of 12 people during Mass.

“To be authentic people of the Eucharist and followers of Jesus, we are called to bring him to others,” said the bishop. “That is what living the Eucharist is about. One way that we do that is to pray for each other. We pray for those who are not here. We can invite them to join us for liturgy. And we can also seek ways in which we can serve others. Sometimes the most powerful sermon is the one that takes place in caring for another. We ourselves become, then, truly the bearers of Christ’s love through our own love for the other.”

The Mass of the Lord’s Supper is the last Mass that will be celebrated before the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, April 8. During the Mass on Thursday evening, additional hosts were consecrated for use during Good Friday services.

After Communion, the bishop incensed the Blessed Sacrament on the altar and then carried the hosts in a solemn procession through the cathedral and into the adjoining chapel. Fr. Seamus Griesbach, rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, then placed the ciborium in the tabernacle. The bishop, priests, and parishioners knelt in adoration and prayer as all candles were extinguished in the chapel.

The main tabernacle in the cathedral will remain empty until the Easter Vigil. The altar in the cathedral was also stripped and left bare in preparation for the most somber of feasts: Good Friday. 

“So that we might understand God’s powerful love for us, we break the celebration into particular moments. We might note that we began tonight with the Sign of the Cross. We won’t end with it until the termination of the Vigil,” said the bishop. “We’ll be sent forth with the Sign of the Cross on our mission in the name of the Risen Lord. What that means is that the whole celebration of these days is a unity, and each element is present in the others.”

Bishop Deeley will preside at the Celebration of Our Lord’s Passion on Good Friday (7 p.m.), the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday (8 p.m.), and the celebration of the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday (10 a.m.), all at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and all also livestreamed.

A special Easter Triduum page, featuring Mass listings, events, and resources, can be found on the Diocese of Portland website. Stories and pictures from many Holy Week Masses and services can be found on the diocesan website, the diocesan Facebook page, the diocesan Twitter page, the diocesan Instagram page, and on Bishop Deeley’s personal social media pages on Twitter and Instagram.