A Model to Follow April 13

Piety

Jesus, today we are holding on to the Alpha, the greatest gift humanity ever enjoyed…your mortal life that was the model for us to follow.

Our faith tells us you must die tomorrow in order to wash our feet and cleanse us from our sins...since committed when we were not patterning our life after your model. But before you died, you gave us a new sacrament by which to always remember you and your commission to us. Your Supper replaced the Passover Seder for us. Today, be with us as we celebrate that Omega supper.

Lord, we know that you did not come just so we can believe in you. You told to that our faith must lead us to the service you exemplified. In our belief, point us in the direction of service and love for each other -- our familyand friends, people we know and people we don't know yet, those we love and those we don't love yet.

Help us to pattern our lives in faith, hope and service after you so that we may wash the feet that you put before us. Amen.

Study

Today, we can encounter Jesus twice in the daily scripture giving us a model to follow.
http://www.usccb.org/nab/041306a.shtml
http://www.usccb.org/nab/041306b.shtml

First is in the Chrism Mass at the “beginning” of his priestly ministry in his hometown of Nazareth Then, we see him in Jerusalem at the end. The Alpha and the Omega.

Luke places this scene at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry although Mark has it near the end of his narrative. Jesus returns home in a scene symbolic of the sacrifice he will make for us on Good Friday[1] because he will be rejected in his hometown.

Before celebrating the central mysteries of salvation, every diocesan community is gathered this morning around its Bishop for the blessing of the holy oils, which are the instrument of salvation in various sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders and the Anointing of the Sick. These signs of divine grace draw their effectiveness from the paschal mystery, from the Death and Resurrection of Christ. This is why the Church celebrates this rite on the threshold of the Sacred Triduum, on the day when, by a supreme priestly act, the Son of God made man offered himself to the Father to redeem all humanity.[2]
Chrism Mass

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)

As the NAB points out, “To bring glad tidings to the poor” is a special concern in Luke’s Gospel. It explains that more than any other gospel writer Luke is concerned with Jesus' attitude toward the economically and socially poor. At times, the poor in Luke's gospel are associated with the downtrodden, the oppressed and afflicted, the forgotten and the neglected, and it is they who accept Jesus' message of salvation.

Unlike the oppressed, when the people in the temple back in Nazareth heard Jesus preaching that he was the fulfillment of the scripture, they wanted to attack him. They knew him only as the son of the carpenter. Instead, Jesus passed through their midst just as he did the angry crowds he encountered in John’s Gospel earlier in Lent. The Omega had not yet come.

The message of action that will “let the oppressed go free” at the Chrism Mass is matched with another message of active service and love at the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Here we recall the ultimate act of humble service that marks Jesus’ priestly mission.
Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” (John 13:15)
The Alpha and the Omega…the Alpha of the Omega. This is the beginning of the end of the story. This episode in our Holy Week walk with Jesus is presented as a "model" ("pattern") of the crucifixion. It symbolizes cleansing from sin by sacrificial death.[3] As Luke 22:27 reminds us: “For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves.”

In explanatory footnotes in the NAB, we learn that the act of washing the feet could not be required of the lowliest Jewish slave. Yet, symbolic of the humiliation of the crucifixion, this is exactly what Jesus does. How different our reaction is to this self-imposed humbling than it is when the Roman guard will put a purple robe on Jesus and mock him.

Action
Our Lenten Season "begins to end" today. Three final days. Reflect back on your actions over this Holy Season. Whose cross did you help to carry? The poorest of the poor?

Consider ending the season with a call to your public elected officials. The Virginia Catholic Conference is urging us to take action for Haiti. I just took action on this issue and thought you might find it interesting too. There is a link at the VCC to generate letters.

During this season of almsgiving, we are called to reflect more deeply upon the needs of our poorest brothers and sisters throughout the world. As Lent draws to a close, the alert link above provides a special opportunity to assist members of our human family with especially grave and immediate needs. According to the VCC, several items being considered by Congress could either improve or worsen conditions in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere. The USCCB is urging Congress to provide desperately needed aid and debt relief for Haiti. To advocate for the people of this heavily impoverished country, please send an e-mail message to your two U.S. senators and your House Representative between now and April 24th. On the web link above, you can simply click "take action," scroll down, fill in the blanks and send the pre-drafted messages or modified ones that suit your own style.
[1] http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/luke/luke4.htm#foot7
[2] http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/homilies/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20000420_chrism_en.html
[3] http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/john/john13.htm#foot2