From: Mark 14:12-16; 22-26

Preparations for the Last Supper

[12] And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover
lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to
eat the passover?” [13] And he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, “Go
into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, [14] and
wherever he enters, say to the householder, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my
guest room, where I am to eat the passover with my disciples?’ [15] And he will
show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” [16]
And the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it as he had told them;
and they prepared the passover.

The institution of the Eucharist

[22] And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave
it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” [23] And he took a cup, and when
he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. [24] And he said
to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. [25]
Truly, I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day
when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

[26] And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

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Commentary:

12-16. At first sight our Lord’s behaviour described here seems quite out of char-
acter. However, if we think about it, it is quite consistent: probably Jesus wanted
to avoid Judas knowing in advance the exact place where the Supper will be held,
to prevent him notifying the Sanhedrin. And so God’s plans for that memorable
night of Holy Thursday were fulfilled: Judas was unable to advise the Sanhedrin
where they could find Jesus until after the celebration of the passover meal (dur-
ing which Judas left the Cenacle): cf. Jn 13:30.

St Mark describes in more detail than the other evangelists the place where the
meal took place: he says it was a large, well-appointed room — a dignified place.
There is an ancient Christian tradition that the house of the Cenacle was owned
by Mary the mother of St Mark, to whom, it seems, the Garden of Olives also
belonged.

22. The word “this” does not refer to the act of breaking the bread but to the
“thing” which Jesus gives his disciples, that is, something which looked like
bread and which was no longer bread but the body of Christ. “This is my body.
That is to say, what I am giving you now and what you are taking is my body.
For the bread is not only a symbol of the body of Christ; it becomes his very bo-
dy, as the Lord has said: the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is
my flesh. Therefore, the Lord conserves the appearances of bread and wine but
changes the bread and wine into the reality of his flesh and his blood” (Theophy-
lact, “Enarratio in Evangelium Marci”, in loc.). Therefore, any interpretation in
the direction of symbolism or metaphor does not fit the meaning of the text. The
same applies to the “This is my blood” (v. 24). On the realism of these expres-
sions, see the first part of the note on Mt 26:26-29.

24. The words of consecration of the chalice clearly show that the Eucharist is a
sacrifice: the blood of Christ is poured out, sealing the new and definitive Cove-
nant of God with men. This Covenant remains sealed forever by the sacrifice of
Christ on the cross, in which Jesus is both Priest and Victim. The Church has
defined this truth in these words: “If anyone says that in the Mass a true and
proper sacrifice is not offered to God, or that to be offered is nothing else but that
Christ is given us to eat, let him be anathema” (Council of Trent, “De S. Missae
sacrificio”, chap. 1, can. 1).

These words pronounced over the chalice must have been very revealing for the
apostles, because they show that the sacrifices of the Old Covenant were in fact
a preparation for and anticipation of Christ’s sacrifice. The apostles were able to
grasp that the Covenant of Sinai and the various sacrifices of the temple were
merely an imperfect pre-figurement of the definitive sacrifice and definitive Cove-
nant, which would take place on the cross and which they were anticipating in
this Supper.

A clear explanation of the sacrificial character of the Eucharist can be found in
the inspired text in chapters 8 and 9 of the Letter to the Hebrews. Similarly, the
best preparation for understanding the real presence and the Eucharist as food
for the soul is a reading of chapter 6 of the Gospel of St John.

At the Last Supper, then, Christ already offered himself voluntarily to his Father
as a victim to be sacrificed. The Supper and the Mass constitute with the cross
one and the same unique and perfect sacrifice, for in all these cases the victim
offered is the same — Christ; and the priest is the same — Christ. The only differ-
ence is that the Supper, which takes place prior to the cross, anticipates the
Lord’s death in an unbloody way and offers a victim soon to be immolated; where-
as the Mass offers, also in an unbloody manner, the victim already immolated on
the cross, a victim who exists forever in heaven.

25. After instituting the Holy Eucharist, our Lord extends the Last Supper in inti-
mate conversation with his disciples, speaking to them once more about his im-
minent death (cf. Jn, chaps. 13-17). His farewell saddens the apostles, but he
promises that the day will come when he will meet with them again, when the
Kingdom of God will have come in all its fullness: he is referring to the beatific
life in heaven, so often compared to a banquet. Then there will be no need of
earthly food or drink; instead there will be a new wine (cf. Is 25:6). Definitively,
after the resurrection, the apostles and all the saints will be able to share the de-
light of being with Jesus.

The fact that St Mark brings in these words after the institution of the Eucharist
indicates in some way that the Eucharist is an anticipation here on earth of pos-
session of God in eternal blessedness, where God will be everything to everyone
(cf. 1 Cor 15:28). “At the Last Supper,” Vatican II teaches, “on the night he was
betrayed, our Saviour instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of his body and blood.
This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages
until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church,
a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a
bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled
with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us” (”Sacrosanctum Concilium”,
47).

26. “When they had sung a hymn”: it was a custom at the passover meal to re-
cite prayers, called “Hallel”, which included Psalms 113 to 118; the last part was
recited at the end of the meal.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

Exodus 24:3-8 ©

Moses went and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. In answer, all the people said with one voice, ‘We will observe all the commands that the Lord has decreed.’ Moses put all the commands of the Lord into writing, and early next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve standing-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed certain young Israelites to offer holocausts and to immolate bullocks to the Lord as communion sacrifices. Half of the blood Moses took up and put into basins, the other half he cast on the altar. And taking the Book of the Covenant he read it to the listening people, and they said, ‘We will observe all that the Lord has decreed; we will obey.’ Then Moses took the blood and cast it towards the people. This’ he said ‘is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you, containing all these rules.’

Psalm

Psalm 115:12-13,15-18 ©

The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.

How can I repay the Lord

for his goodness to me?

The cup of salvation I will raise;

I will call on the Lord’s name.

The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.

O precious in the eyes of the Lord

is the death of his faithful.

Your servant, Lord, your servant am I;

you have loosened my bonds.

The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.

A thanksgiving sacrifice I make;

I will call on the Lord’s name.

My vows to the Lord I will fulfil

before all his people.

The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name.

Second reading

Hebrews 9:11-15 ©

Now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, which is better than the one made by men’s hands because it is not of this created order; and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption for us. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how much more effectively the blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do our service to the living God.

He brings a new covenant, as the mediator, only so that the people who were called to an eternal inheritance may actually receive what was promised: his death took place to cancel the sins that infringed the earlier covenant.

Sequence

The Sequence may be said or sung in full, or using the shorter form indicated by the asterisked verses.

Sing forth, O Zion, sweetly sing

The praises of thy Shepherd-King,

In hymns and canticles divine;

Dare all thou canst, thou hast no song

Worthy his praises to prolong,

So far surpassing powers like thine.

Today no theme of common praise

Forms the sweet burden of thy lays –

The living, life-dispensing food –

That food which at the sacred board

Unto the brethren twelve our Lord

His parting legacy bestowed.

Then be the anthem clear and strong,

Thy fullest note, thy sweetest song,

The very music of the breast:

For now shines forth the day sublime

That brings remembrance of the time

When Jesus first his table blessed.

Within our new King’s banquet-hall

They meet to keep the festival

That closed the ancient paschal rite:

The old is by the new replaced;

The substance hath the shadow chased;

And rising day dispels the night.

Christ willed what he himself had done

Should be renewed while time should run,

In memory of his parting hour:

Thus, tutored in his school divine,

We consecrate the bread and wine;

And lo – a Host of saving power.

This faith to Christian men is given –

Bread is made flesh by words from heaven:

Into his blood the wine is turned:

What though it baffles nature’s powers

Of sense and sight? This faith of ours

Proves more than nature e’er discerned.

Concealed beneath the two-fold sign,

Meet symbols of the gifts divine,

There lie the mysteries adored:

The living body is our food;

Our drink the ever-precious blood;

In each, one undivided Lord.

Not he that eateth it divides

The sacred food, which whole abides

Unbroken still, nor knows decay;

Be one, or be a thousand fed,

They eat alike that living bread

Which, still received, ne’er wastes away.

The good, the guilty share therein,

With sure increase of grace or sin,

The ghostly life, or ghostly death:

Death to the guilty; to the good

Immortal life. See how one food

Man’s joy or woe accomplisheth.

We break the Sacrament, but bold

And firm thy faith shall keep its hold,

Deem not the whole doth more enfold

Than in the fractured part resides

Deem not that Christ doth broken lie,

’Tis but the sign that meets the eye,

The hidden deep reality

In all its fullness still abides.

– – – – – –

*Behold the bread of angels, sent

For pilgrims in their banishment,

The bread for God’s true children meant,

That may not unto dogs be given:

Oft in the olden types foreshowed;

In Isaac on the altar bowed,

And in the ancient paschal food,

And in the manna sent from heaven.

*Come then, good shepherd, bread divine,

Still show to us thy mercy sign;

Oh, feed us still, still keep us thine;

So may we see thy glories shine

In fields of immortality;

*O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best,

Our present food, our future rest,

Come, make us each thy chosen guest,

Co-heirs of thine, and comrades blest

With saints whose dwelling is with thee.

Amen. Alleluia.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn6:51

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the living bread which has come down from heaven,

says the Lord.

Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.

Alleluia!

Gospel

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to Jesus, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the passover?’ So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and say to the owner of the house which he enters, “The Master says: Where is my dining room in which I can eat the passover with my disciples?” He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the preparations for us there,’ The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.

And as they were eating he took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. ‘Take it,’ he said ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, ‘This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.’

After psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives.