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Stole and Towel - Authority and Service
From Fr. Tony Kadavil:
1 The Stole and the Towel: It is the title of a book, which sums up the message
of the Italian bishop, Tony Bello, who died of cancer at the age of 58. On Maundy Thursday of 1993, while on his
deathbed, he dictated a pastoral letter to the priests of his diocese. He called upon them to be bound by "the
stole and the towel." The stole
symbolizes union with Christ in the Eucharist, and the towel symbolizes union
with humanity by service. The priest is
called upon to be united with the Lord in the Eucharist and with the people as
their servant. Today we celebrate the
institution of both the Eucharist and the priesthood: the feast of "the
stole and the towel," the feast of love and service.
2 “Jesus Christ gave a lasting memorial”:
One of his Catholic disciples asked the controversial
god-man Osho Rajneesh about the difference between Buddha the founder of
Buddhism and Jesus Christ. He told a
story to distinguish between Buddha and Christ. When Buddha was on his death
bed, his disciple Anand asked him for a memorial and Buddha gave him a Jasmine
flower. However, as the flower dried up, the memory of Buddha also dwindled.
But Jesus Christ instituted a lasting memorial, without anybody’s asking for
it, by offering His Body and Blood in the form of bread and wine and commanding
His disciples to share His Divinity by repeating the ceremony. So Jesus
continues to live in His followers while Buddha lives only in history books. On
Holy Thursday, we are reflecting on the importance of the institution of the
Holy Eucharist and the ministerial priesthood. [Osho Rajneesh claimed himself
to be another incarnation of God who attained “enlightenment” at 29 when he was
a professor of Hindu philosophy in Jabalpur University in India. He had
thousands of followers for his controversial “liberation through sex theology,”
based on Hindu, Buddhist and Christian theology.
3: Why is the other side empty?
Have you ever noticed that in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting
of the Last Supper everybody is on one side of the table? The other side is
empty. "Why's that?" someone asked the great artist. His answer was
simple. "So that there may be plenty of room for us to join them."
Want to let Jesus do his thing on earth through you? Then pull up a chair and
receive him into your heart (Fr. Jack Dorsel).
4: Holy Communion on the moon:
On July 20, 1969, the space rocket Apollo 11 became the
first manned vehicle to land on the surface of the moon carrying the astronauts
Neil Armstrong (commander), Michael Collins (pilot of the command module) and
Edwin Aldrin (commander of the lunar module). It was an event that inspired awe
all around the world. After landing on the moon, Aldrin radioed earth with
these words: "I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person
listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and
contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her
own way." Then, when he journeyed out of the space module onto the moon's
surface, he did something quite significant. He took out a small home Communion
kit and became the first person to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion on
the surface of the moon. This is to say that the event we celebrate this night
is the only religious rite in all the world that has been celebrated on the
surface of the moon. Here's an interesting sidebar. Aldrin kept his intent to
celebrate Holy Communion on the moon a secret, even from his fellow astronauts.
Why? Because earlier someone had filed a lawsuit regarding the reading of
Genesis 1 by the astronauts on Apollo 8 as they circled the earth on Christmas
Eve a few years earlier. (Chaikin, Andrew. A Man On The Moon. Cited at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Aldrin ) It is nice to know, isn't it, that
the Eucharist has been received by a man on the moon. It's much more critical
to know that we have this rite to celebrate because God came down to earth.
This is a rite initiated by the Master himself. Understanding that is
particularly significant when we read John's portrayal of that First Holy
Communion, which we know as the Last Supper.
5: "Now she's ready for living--in this life and the
next."
TV pastor Robert Schuller tells about the time Bishop Fulton
Sheen spoke at the Crystal Cathedral. Fulton Sheen was one of the most
effective religious communicators of his time. In the early 1950s, his weekly
television broadcast was the most popular program in the country. Because he
was so popular, thousands of people came to hear Sheen at the Crystal
Cathedral. After the message, he and Robert Schuller were able to get to their
car only because a passageway was roped off. Otherwise, they would have been
mobbed. Along both sides of the ropes, people were reaching out in an attempt
to touch the bishop. It was as if the pope himself had come to town. As Sheen
was passing through this section on his way to his car, someone handed him a
note, which he folded and put into his pocket. Then, as he and Schuller were on
their way to the restaurant where they where going to eat lunch, Bishop Sheen
pulled out that note, read it, and asked Schuller, "Do you know where this
trailer park is?" Schuller looked at the note and said, "Yes, it's
just a couple of miles from here." The bishop said, "Do you think we
could go there before we go to lunch?" "Sure," Schuller
answered. "We have plenty of time." So they drove to this little trailer
park, and Bishop Sheen went up to one of the trailers and knocked on the door.
An elderly woman opened the door, and seemed surprised--flabbergasted,
really--when she saw who had come to visit her. She opened the door and the
bishop went in. After a few moments, he came out, got back in the car and said,
"Now she's ready for living--in this life and the next." [Robert A.
Schuller, Dump Your Hang-ups (Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1993).] Bishop
Sheen showed the Spirit of Jesus on Holy Thursday.
6: A president in
servant’s role:
"When I try to tell people what Ronald Reagan was
like," says Peggy Noonan, former White House speechwriter, "I tell
them the bathroom story." A few days after President Reagan had been shot,
when he was able to get out of bed, he wasn't feeling well, so he went into the
bathroom that connected to his room. He slapped some water on his face and some
of the water slopped out of the sink. He got some paper towels and got down on
the floor to clean it up. An aide went in to check on him, and found the
president of the United States on his hands and knees on the cold tile floor,
mopping up water with paper towels. "Mr. President," the aide said,
"what are you doing? Let the nurse clean that up!" And President
Ronald Reagan said, "Oh, no. I made that mess, and I'd hate for the nurse
to have to clean it up." [Pat Williams, The Paradox of Power (New York:
Warner Faith, 2002).]
7: Waiting and remembering:
One day the professor of Eucharistic theology came in
carrying a brown paper bag, and declared that his theology students were going
to learn the significance of the Lord’s Supper. As he began to talk he reached
into the bag and pulled out a hand full of Buckeyes, and began throwing them,
one by one, to each member of the class. (If you are not familiar with the
Buckeye, it is the large, shiny brown seed of the Horse Chestnut tree. It is
especially abundant in Ohio which is the reason Ohio is known as the Buckeye
State.) The professor then reached into his own pocket and removed a small,
brown, shriveled up something. Holding it between his two fingers for all to
see he said to the class, “See this? This is a Buckeye like you have. I have
been carrying it around in my pocket since 1942. I had a son who went off to
the war that year. When he left he gave me this Buckeye, and told me to put it
in my pocket and keep it there until he came home. That way each time I reached
in my pocket I would always remember him. Well, I have been carrying that
Buckeye in my pocket since 1942. And I have been waiting. Waiting for my son to
come back, and each time I reach in my pocket I remember my son.” Eucharistic
celebration is about waiting and remembering. Each time, we, as a community of
faith, gather around the table to take the consecrated bread and cup we are
remembering, and we are proclaiming that we are waiting for our Lord to return.
(Jerry Fritz, http://leiningers.com/waiting.html).
8: "You don't recognize me, do you?”
There is an old legend about DaVinci's painting of the Last
Supper. In all of his paintings he tried to find someone to pose that fit the
face of the particular character he was painting. Out of hundreds of
possibilities he chose a young 19-year old to portray Jesus. It took him six
months to paint the face of Jesus. Seven years later DaVinci started hunting
for just the right face for Judas. Where could he find one that would portray
that image? He looked high and low. Down in a dark Roman dungeon he found a
wretched, unkempt prisoner to strike the perfect pose. The prisoner was
released to his care and when the portrait of Judas was complete the prisoner
said to the great artist, "You don't recognize me, do you? I am the man
you painted seven years ago as the face of Christ. O God, I have fallen so
low."
9: “Neither is your
best good enough for Almighty God."
There was once an old retired Methodist bishop who never
missed an opportunity to say a word for his Lord. One day he was in the
barbershop receiving a haircut from the young man who was his regular barber.
There was enough conversation in the shop to allow him to speak with his barber
privately, so he said, "Harry, how are you and the Lord getting
along?" Rather curtly the young man replied, "Bishop, I do the best I
can and that's good enough for me." The bishop said no more. When his
haircut was finished, he got up and paid the barber. Then he said with a smile,
"Harry, you work so hard that you deserve a break. Sit down, rest, and
have a coke. I'll cut the next customer's hair." The barber smiled and
said, "Bishop, I appreciate that but I can't let you do it."
"But why not?" asked the Bishop. "I promise to do my best."
"But," said the barber, "I'm afraid that your best wouldn't be
good enough." Then the bishop added the obvious, "And son, neither is
your best good enough for Almighty God."
10: Precious gift:
We are all familiar with the situation of the little boy who
wants to give his father a birthday present but does not have any money to buy
one. His father, realizing his son is too young and unable to make any money,
slips him five bucks so that he can do some shopping the next time they are in
town. The big day comes, and the little boy proudly presents his father with a
beautifully wrapped, birthday gift. He is so very happy and proud of himself.
So is his father - proud and happy to have such a loving son. God gave us his
Son so that we could give him back as a gift and become once again his sons and
daughters. Jesus Christ was placed in our hands so that we could have a gift,
the best of gifts. During each Eucharistic celebration we give this precious
gift back to God the Father. Today we celebrate the feast of the First Mass
(Fr. Jack Dorsel).
11: “Gone, But Not for Cotton:”
There is an absolutely terrible old joke about a bill
collector in Georgia who knocked on the door of a client who lived out in a
rural area. This client owed the bill collector’s company money. “Is Fred
home?” he asked the woman who answered the door.” Sorry,” the woman replied.
“Fred’s gone for cotton.” The next day the collector tried again. “Is Fred here
today?” “No, sir,” she said, “I’m afraid Fred has gone for cotton.” When he
returned the third day, he said sarcastically, “I suppose Fred is gone for
cotton again?” “No,” the woman answered solemnly, “Fred died yesterday.”
Suspicious that he was being avoided, the bill collector decided to wait a week
and check out the cemetery himself. Sure enough, there was poor Fred’s
tombstone. On it was this inscription: “Gone, But Not for Cotton.” That’s
terrible, I know, but it is a reminder that tonight as we participate in the Lord’s
Supper, proclaiming that Christ is neither gone nor forgotten. We assert our
faith that he is present, here with us, as we receive Holy Communion in
remembrance of him.
12: “I still think they are wonderful."
Dr. Robert Kopp tells of an interview someone did with the
great composer Irving Berlin. We remember Berlin for favorites like "God
Bless America," "Easter Parade," and "I'm Dreaming of a
White Christmas." Berlin was asked, "Is there any question you've never
been asked that you would like someone to ask you?" "Well, yes, there
is one," Berlin replied. He posed the question himself: "What do you
think of the many songs you've written that didn't become hits?" Then he
answered his own question: "My reply would be that I still think they are
wonderful." Then he added, "God, too, has an unshakable delight in
what--and whom--He has made. He thinks each of His children is wonderful, and
whether they're a ‘hit’ in the eyes of others or not, He will always think
they're wonderful." Irving Berlin hit it right on the head. Here is the
critical truth about faith--it is grounded in God's wondrous love for us. We
may not feel worthy to be loved, we may even repudiate that love--but we cannot
keep God from loving. That is God's very nature. God is love.
13: “Forget-me-not:”
There is an old legend that after God finished creating the
world, He still had the task of naming every creature and plant in it. Anyone
who has ever faced the task of naming a newborn knows this is not as easy as it
seems. Thinking Himself finished at last, God heard a small voice saying,
"How about me?" Looking down, the Creator spied a small flower.
"I forgot you once," He said, "but it will not happen
again." And, at that moment, the forget-me-not was born. [The Great
American Bathroom Reader by Mark B. Charlton, (Barnes & Noble, New York,
1997), p. 260.} It's just a silly legend--a myth, if you will--but the reason
such legends and myths abound is that they reflect the truth about God. God
loves. God loves each of us as if God had no one else to love. Originally
developed to track Israeli secret-service agents abroad, the $5,000
battery-less Sky-Eye chip sold by Gen-Etics runs solely on the
neurophysiological energy generated within the human body. Gen-Etics won't
reveal where the chip is inserted but says 43 people have had it implanted.
("World Watch," edited by Anita Hamilton, Timedigital, Nov. 30, 1998,
p. 107.) It is amazing to me that it is easier for some people to believe that
technology can track an individual person's movements anywhere in the world,
but that somehow we are lost to God. How absurd. We are under the watchful eye
of a Heavenly Father who never forgets us, never leaves us and is always
concerned about our well-being.
14: "I missed."
Former President Reagan told a humorous story during the
last days of his administration. It was about Alexander Dumas, author of The
Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. It seems that Dumas and a
friend had a severe argument. The matter got so out of hand that one challenged
the other to a duel. Both Dumas and his friend were superb marksmen. Fearing
that both men might fall in such a duel they resolved to draw straws instead.
Whoever drew the shorter straw would then be pledged to shoot himself. Dumas
was the unlucky one. He drew the short straw. With a heavy sigh, he picked up
his pistol and trudged into the library and closed the door, leaving the
company of friends who had gathered to witness the non-duel outside. In a few
moments a solitary shot was fired. All the curious pressed into the library.
They found Dumas standing with his pistol still smoking. "An amazing thing
just happened," said Dumas. "I missed." I am amazed how many
Christians have been in the church all their lives and still have missed the
Gospel. So many folks still live in the Old Testament, bound by legalisms,
restricted by the "Thou shalt nots" without being empowered by
"Thou shalts." Some are experts at the Ten Commandments, but absolute
failures at the eleventh and most important of all. Jesus said, "A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you,
that you also love one another. By this all men shall know that you are my
disciples, if you have love one for another." (RSV)
15: "What did you have for breakfast today?"
President Nelson Mandela of South Africa is one of those
rare politicians who has the common touch even when the cameras are not
rolling. When he speaks at banquets, he makes a point of going into the kitchen
and shaking hands with every dishwasher and busboy. When out in public he often
worries his bodyguards because he is prone to stop to talk with a little child.
Typically he will ask, "How old are you son?" Then his next question
is, "What did you have for breakfast today?" In that strange, wonderful
company called the Kingdom of God, even the bosses wash feet. Have you allowed
Jesus to give you a servant's heart and servant's hands? Be servant leaders in
a serving community.
16: He picked it up and returned it to the bench:
Many years ago, a sticky situation arose at the wedding
ceremony for the Duke of York. All the guests and the wedding attendants were
in place. Majestic organ music filled the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey. But
something was wrong. As part of the marriage ceremony, the Duke and his bride
were to kneel on a cushioned bench to receive a blessing. A nervous whisper
spread through the congregation as guests noticed that one of the cushions from
the kneeling bench had fallen on the floor. Most of the attendants standing near
the kneeling bench had royal blood lines; at the very least, they were all from
the upper crust of British society. To reach down and pick up the pillow would
have been beneath them. They all pretended to ignore the misplaced pillow until
finally the Prince of Wales, who was a groomsman, picked it up and returned it
to the bench. (George C. Pidgeon) That may not impress us very much, but in a
society that is as class-conscious as British society is, this was an
extraordinary act. No wonder Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.
17: Jesus has no desire to be cloned:
That night in the upper room Jesus knew what it would take
to change the world -- not strife and revolution, not warfare and bloodshed,
but love, sincere, self-sacrificing love on the part of his people. Last
November, Dr. Avi Ben-Abraham, head resident of the American Cryogenics
Society, told an audience in Washington, D.C., that several high-ranking Roman
Catholic Church leaders had privately told him that despite the church's public
stance against research in genetics and gene reproduction and experimentation
in artificial life production, they personally supported his way-out research.
According to Ben-Abraham, those church leaders hope to reproduce Jesus Christ
from DNA fibers found on the Shroud of Turin. If Dr. Ben-Abraham is right,
somebody’d better tell those venerable church leaders that Jesus has no desire
to be cloned -- except in the lives of those who love him and follow him.
That's why he takes bread and wine and gives us himself in Holy Communion, to
bring us forgiveness and to strengthen us to love one another. “This is My will
-- this is My commandment for you.”
18: The Beloved Captain:
Donald Hankey’s The Beloved Captain tells how the captain
cared for his men’s feet. After long marches he went into the barracks to
inspect the feet of his soldiers. He’d get down on his hands and knees to take
a good look at the worst cases. If a blister needed lancing, he’d frequently
lance it himself. “There was no affectation about this,” says Donald Hankey.
“It seemed to have a touch of Christ about it, and we loved and honored him the
more” for it. – Is there a ‘touch of Christ’ about our concern for our brothers
and sisters? “Jesus, my feet are dirty…. Pour water into your basin and come and
wash my feet. I know that I am overbold is asking this, but I dread your
warning, when you said, ‘If I do not wash your feet, you can have no
companionship with me.’ Wash my feet, then, because I do want your
companionship.” Mark Link in ‘Daily Homilies’ (Fr. Botelho)
16) Pope missing:
A story from the life of Pope John Paul II brings home the
profound significance of what we do tonight. Bishop John Magee, who was
personal secretary to the pope, tells about something that happened after Pope
John Paul's election. An official came to Vatican asking to speak immediately
with the new pope. Bishop Magee went to the pope's room. He was not there. He
went to the library, the chapel, the kitchen, even the roof. When he couldn't
find the pope, he began to think about Morris West's novel, The Shoes of the
Fisherman. In that novel a newly elected Slavic pope slips out of the Vatican
to find out what is happening with ordinary people in his new diocese. That was
fiction, but if the new pope actually did it, it might turn out badly. So
Bishop Magee ran to a priest who knew the pope. "We've lost the Holy
Father," he said. "I've looked everywhere and cannot find him."
The Polish priest asked calmly, "Did you look in the chapel?" "Yes,"
said Bishop Magee, "he was nowhere in sight." "Go further
in," the Polish priest said, “but do not turn on the light.” Bishop Magee
walked quietly into the darkened chapel. In front of the tabernacle, lying
prostrate on the floor, was the pope. The Polish priest knew that, before his
election, the pope often prostrated himself before Jesus truly present in the
Blessed Sacrament. Tonight we commemorate that greatest of all tangible gifts.
St. Paul quotes Jesus saying, "This is my body that is for you."
Jesus gives himself to us in a humble form - unleavened bread like that the
Israelites ate during their Passover. (Fr. Phil Bloom).
