The earliest written account of the words of consecration are those we hear in the second reading tonight. Paul, in his first letter to the Christian community in Corinth, gives us a glance as to how Mass was celebrated in the early Church. He wrote his 1st letter to the Corinthians around the year 50, approximately 20 years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and 15 to 20 years before the first gospel, the gospel of Mark, was written. We hear Paul say two times in this reading, “Do this in remembrance of me.” What do these words mean to us?
Back in the 1950’s, when Mass was in Latin, my parents would have said, “Do this in remembrance of me meant going to hear Mass.” We didn’t participate at all in the Mass. We were not allowed to say any Mass prayers, not even the Our Father. The altar boys did that for us. We weren’t allowed to sing. The choir did that for us. Do this in memory of me meant going to church on Sunday to hear Mass and receive Holy Communion.
As a 2 and 3 year old kid , “Do this in remembrance of me” meant standing on the kneeler, opening up the purse of the woman in the pew ahead of us, and rifling through its contents, and, playing with the feet of those kneeling in front of me. Boy, people really hate it when you grab the heals of their shoes and move them back and forth. When you are barely 2 feet tall and can barely see over the pew, can’t bring anything to play with at Mass, and everything is in a language you don’t understand, you have to do something to occupy your time.
As I got older, and became an altar boy, I would say, “Do this in remembrance of me” meant memorizing Latin prayers I didn’t understand. It meant learning to ring the bells at the correct time. It meant knowing when to transfer the Roman Missal from the epistle side of the altar to the gospel side of the altar. It meant learning how to stifle my laughter as I held a paten under the chin of people who stuck their tongues out at me. It also meant that I could not “accidentally” hit a kid I didn’t like in the Adam’s Apple with the edge of the paten. Man that would really get him to stick out his tongue.
Things have changed a lot since that time long ago. “Do this in memory of me,” no longer means passively sitting silent like spectators watching the priest and the altar servers do things for us. We are now actively engaged in Mass by praying the prayers of the Mass, singing the hymns and acclamations of the Mass, listening to the scripture proclaimed, and receiving Holy Communion. But, is this what Jesus meant by saying, “Do this in remembrance of me?” No. As we hear in the Gospel tonight “Do this in remembrance of me” is more than smells and bells.
The great Catholic scripture scholar, Fr Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, wrote that Jesus did not just merely say the words, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Jesus gave substance to those words by washing the feet of the apostles and then going forth and sacrificing his life on the cross for all people, including those who plotted against him and executed him. Jesus tells us, “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” To do this in remembrance of me means that we are to go forth from this church with the grace we have received from this Mass and use that grace to serve the needs, to wash the feet, figuratively speaking and literally speaking, of all who are in need.
If we continue to read the passages after Jesus washes the feet of his apostles, we will hear Jesus give his last teaching to the apostles before he goes to the Garden and fulfills his mission. He will command them to “love one another as I have loved you.”
That command has been passed down the ages to us here tonight. As Jesus fed the 5000, we are to go forth and feed the hungry, whether it is at the Dorothy Day Center, Loaves and Fishes, bringing food to the food shelf, or bringing a hot meal to someone who is in need. As Jesus healed those who were sick, we are to go forth and visit and pray for those who are ill, drive people to the doctors and keep them company as they wait in the waiting room, or sit with their families during surgeries, or even bringing some chicken noodle soup who has a bad cold. As Jesus comforted many who were overwhelmed by life’s problems, so we, too, must sit and listen to people as they try and sort out what has happened to them in life. Perhaps they have lost a job, or are going through separation and divorce. Perhaps they are grieving the death of someone they loved. Perhaps they are lonely, or feeling depressed and need someone to listen to them. As Jesus welcomed and ministered to many shunned by his society, Samaritans, tax collectors, prostitutes, so are we to welcome the stranger and those looked down upon by our society.
When we, as the living, breathing body of Christ on this earth truly “Do this in remembrance of me,” we give substance to the words of consecration we hear at Mass. The words of consecration are not just holy words uttered by a priest to transform bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. When these words are placed into action, they transform our lives, so that we can go forth and transform the world around us.
