POPE JOHN PAUL II
LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO PRIESTS
HOLY THURSDAY 1988
Dear Brothers in the Priesthood,
1. Today we all return to the Upper Room. Gathering at the altar in
so many places throughout the world, we celebrate in a special way the
memorial of the Last Supper in the midst of the community of the
People of God whom we serve. The words which Christ spoke on "the day
before he suffered" re-echo on our lips at the evening liturgy of Holy
Thursday as they do every day; yet they do so in a particular way
since they refer back to that special evening which is recalled by the
Church precisely today.
Like our Lord, and at the same time, in persona Christi, we say the
words: "Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body... Take
this, all of you and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood."
Indeed, the Lord himself commanded us to do so, when he said to the
apostles: "Do this in memory of me" (Lk 22:19).
And as we do this, the whole mystery of the Incarnation must be alive
in our minds and hearts. Christ, who on Holy Thursday announces this
body will be "given up" and his blood "shed," is the eternal Son, who
"coming into the world," says to the Father: "A body you prepared for
me...Behold I come to do your will" (cf Heb 10:5-7).
It is precisely that Passover which is drawing near, when the Son of
God as Redeemer of the world, will fulfill the Father's will through
the offering and the immolation of his Body and Blood on Golgotha. It
is by means of this sacrifice that he "entered once for all into the
Holy Place, taking ... his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption" (Heb 9:12). Indeed, this is the sacrifice of the "new and everlasting" covenant. See how it is intimately connected with the
mystery of the Incarnation: the Word who became flesh (cf Jn 1:14) immolates his humanity as *homo assumptus* in the unity of the divine
Person.
It is appropriate during this year, being lived by the whole Church as
a Marian Year, to recall the reality of the Incarnation as it relates
to the institution of the Eucharist and also to the institution of the
Sacrament of the Priesthood. The Incarnation was brought about by the
Holy Spirit when he came down upon the Virgin of Nazareth and she
spoke her *fiat* in response to the angel's message (cf Lk 1:38).
Yes, the same Body! When we celebrate the Eucharist, through our
priestly ministry there is made present the mystery of the Incarnate
Word, the Son who is of one being with the Father, who as man "born of
woman" is the Son of the Virgin Mary.
2. There is no indication that the Mother of Christ was present in
the Upper Room at the Last Supper. But she was present on Calvary, at
the foot of the Cross, where as the Second Vatican Council teaches,
"she stood, in accordance with the divine plan (cf Jn 19:25), suffering grievously with her only begotten Son, uniting herself with a
maternal heart to his sacrifice and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim which she herself had brought forth." How far the
*fiat* uttered by Mary at the annunciation had taken her!
When, acting in persona Christi, we celebrate the sacrament of the one
same sacrifice of which Christ is and remains the only priest and victim, we must not forget this suffering of his Mother, in whom were
fulfilled Simeon's words in the Temple at Jerusalem: "A sword will
pierce through your own soul also" (Lk 2:35). They were spoken
directly to Mary forty days after Jesus' birth. On Golgotha, beneath
the cross, these words were completely fulfilled. When on the cross
Mary's Son revealed himself fully as the "sign of contradiction," it
was then that this immolation and mortal agony also reached her maternal heart.
Behold the agony of the heart of the Mother who suffered together with
him, "consenting to the immolation of this victim which she herself
had brought forth." Here we reach the high point of Mary's presence
in the mystery of Christ and of the Church on earth. This high point
is on the path of the "pilgrimage of faith" to which we make special
reference in the Marian Year.
Dear Brothers: who more than we has an absolute need of a deep and unshakable faith - we, who by virtue of the apostolic succession begun
in the Upper Room celebrate the sacrament of Christ's sacrifice? We
must therefore constantly deepen our spiritual bond with the Mother of
God who on the pilgrimage of faith "goes before" the whole People of
God.
And in particular, when we celebrate the Eucharist and stand each day
on Golgotha, we need to have near us the one who through heroic faith
carried to its zenith her union with her Son, precisely then on Golgotha.
3. Moreover, has Christ not left us a special sign of this? See how
during his agony on the cross he spoke the words which have for us the
meaning of a testament: "When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple
whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, `Woman, behold,
your son!' Then he said to the disciple, `Behold, your mother!' And
from that hour the disciple took her to his own home" (Jn 19:26-27).
The disciple, the Apostle John, was with Christ at the Last Supper.
He was one of the "Twelve" to whom the Master addressed, together with
the words instituting the Eucharist, the command: "Do this in memory
of me." He received the power to celebrate the Eucharistic sacrifice
instituted in the Upper Room on the eve of the passion, as the
Church's most holy sacrament.
At the moment of the death, Jesus gives his own Mother to this disciple. John "took her to his own home." He took her as the first
witness to the mystery of the Incarnation. And he, as an evangelist,
expressed in the most profound yet simple way the truth about the Word
who "became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14), the truth about the
Incarnation and the truth about Emmanuel.
And so, by taking "to his own home" the Mother who stood beneath her
Son's cross, he also made his own all that was within her on Golgotha:
the fact that she "suffered grievously with her only-begotten Son,
uniting herself with a maternal heart in his sacrifice, and lovingly
consenting to the immolation of this victim that she herself had
brought forth." All this - the superhuman experience of the sacrifice
of our redemption, inscribed in the heart of Christ the Redeemer's own
Mother - was entrusted to the man who in the Upper Room received the
power to make this sacrifice present through the priestly ministry of
the Eucharist.
Does this not have special eloquence for each of us? If John at the
foot of the cross somehow represents every man and woman for whom the
motherhood of the Mother of God is spiritually extended, how much more
does this concern each of us, who are sacramentally called to the
priestly ministry of the Eucharist in the Church!
The reality of Golgotha is truly an amazing one: the reality of
Christ's sacrifice for the redemption of the world! Equally amazing
is the mystery of God of which we are ministers in the sacramental order (cf 1 Cor 4:1). But are we not threatened by the danger of being
unworthy ministers? By the danger of not presenting ourselves with
sufficient fidelity at the foot of Christ's cross as we celebrate the
Eucharist?
Let us strive to be close to that Mother in whose heart is inscribed
in a unique and incomparable way the mystery of the world's redemption.
4. The Second Vatican Council proclaims: "Through the gift and role
of her divine motherhood, by which the Blessed Virgin is united with
her Son ... she is also intimately united with the Church. As St.
Ambrose taught, the Mother of God is a `type' of the Church in the
matter of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ. For in the
mystery of the Church, herself rightly called mother and virgin, the
Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar
of both virginity and motherhood."
The Council text goes on to develop this typological analogy: "The
Church, moreover, contemplating Mary's mysterious sanctity, imitating
her charity and faithfully fulfilling the Father's will, becomes herself a mother by faithfully accepting God's word. For by her preaching and by Baptism, she brings forth to a new and immortal life
children who are conceived of ...
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