Holy Thursday is a day a priest remembers every time he celebrates Mass. Today all the priests in the diocese attended the Cathedral Mass for the blessing of the oils and the renewal of our promises we made at ordination. The meaning of the day was meaningfully expressed in a meditation by an elderly Korean priest.He began the meditation by mentioning that the Jews would divide their communal meals into three parts: passing the first wine cup, the meal itself, and the wine cup that follows. The host would hold the bread and pray: "Our God, king of the world, the one who gave us this bread, we praise you."
At the Last Supper Jesus followed the ordinary procedures of a Jewish meal. During the main meal, he took the bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them, "Take this," he said, "this is my body." At the end of the meal, taking the cup of wine, gave thanks and passed it to them, and said, " This is the blood that will be shed for many." These are the words Jesus used foreseeing his imminent death. A death he wanted to be an everlasting bond with all of us.
After the death of Jesus, the early Church held this Holy Meal once a week. In the passing of the years much has changed concerning how the Holy Meal was presented and discussed. Though the essential meaning has not changed, the name of the Meal went through several changes.
It was, at first, called the Lord's supper (I Cor. 11:20), then "Breaking of Bread" (Acts 2:42), in the second century, Eucharist (thanksgiving); in the fifth century, it became the Mass. The day on which Mass was celebrated has also changed. In the first century, it was held on Saturday night, before its final change to Sunday. The place of Mass was also changed after the Edict of Toleration in 313 from private homes and catacombs to Churches that were built after the edict. The language has also changed from Latin, before the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), to the language of each country.
But through all the changes, the essential meaning of the Mass remained the same, its core meaning highlighted in Korean culture by two Chinese phrases (父子有親), and (殺身成仁 ). The first refers to the relationship parents have with a child and the respect and obedience the child has for the parents. The second: to sacrifice one's life to keep one's virtue intact. These ideas, accepted as part of a culture going back many hundreds of years, are readily accepted and easily understood by all Koreans; for Catholics they can be applied to the Mass for a better understanding of what is being celebrated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I know this email is out of the blue, but I just posted an article on my blog entitled “Top 15 Misconceptions About Catholics” http://onlinechristiancolleges.net/top-15-misconceptions-about-catholics/ . Anyway I figured I’d bring it to your attention in case you thought it interesting enough to drop a quick mention on your site about it as I’m trying to increase readership of my blog.
