“Do you realize what I have done for you?”

The Institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday is united with the Sacrifice of the Cross on Friday and the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead on Sunday. The Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday) is one liturgy because in fact it is one event. The Institution of the Eucharist and its connection to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest gift Jesus gave us, because it is the gift of Himself.

In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and Resurrection, and commanded his Apostles to celebrate it until his return; ‘thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament.’ [1]
 
…today’s Liturgy invites us to rouse ourselves and to penetrate deeply and lovingly the inexpressible reality of the mystery that took place for the first time in the upper room before the astonished eyes of the disciples, and which is renewed on the altar today with the same concreteness. It is always the Lord Jesus who accomplishes the act of consecration in the person of his minister, and today, the anniversary of the institution of the Eucharist and of the eve of his death, it takes on a moving actuality. [2]

Who was at the Passover/Last Supper? Besides Jesus, the Twelve Apostles, including Judas, were present for the Last Supper. However, before the actual institution of the Eucharist, Judas left to summon the guards to arrest Jesus.
 
When did Jesus celebrate the Last Supper? Jesus celebrated the Last Supper on the feast of the Passover. 

What is the feast of the Passover?
The Passover was the principal Jewish feast and had been instituted to commemorate the liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian domination. ‘This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance forever.’ Every Jew is obliged to celebrate this feast to keep alive the memory of the birth of the People of God. [3]

The Passover is detailed in the first reading for Mass on Holy Thursday.
 
Why did Jesus choose to institute the Eucharist on Passover? Jesus institutes the Eucharist as the new and eternal sacrifice for the New Covenant with God’s people.
Until now God’s covenant with his People has been represented by the paschal lamb’s being sacrificed on the altar of holocausts, at the traditional feast for the entire family that they call the Paschal meal. Now the Lamb being offered up is Christ himself, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant. The Body of Christ is the new banquet for which all the family congregate: “Take this and eat” [4]

By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus’ passing over to his father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom. [5]

Why does Jesus use bread and wine? “At the center of every Mass is the Eucharist. It is the heart of the sacrifice and celebration with the bread and wine.” [6] We use bread and wine because, in the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator. But they also received a new significance in the context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats every year at Passover commemorates the haste of the    departure that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the manna in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of God (Cf. Deut. 8:3).

Their daily bread is the fruit of the Promised Land, the pledge of God’s faithfulness to his promises. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, He knew that all nations would “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). The Mass takes place for all time and for all people in all places, thus our Lord chose bread and wine, which is common to all times, people, and places.
Bread and wine can be found in every culture.

The “cup of blessing” at the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine, an eschatological dimension; the messianic expectation of the    rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a new   and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup. [7]

In the New Testament, we see Jesus use bread in the multiplication of the loaves. We also see the miracle of water turning into wine at the Wedding Feast at Cana. Jesus is the new vine and His Blood the new wine. The miracle of the water to wine “makes manifest the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father’s kingdom, where the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ.” [8] At the Wedding of Cana Jesus turns water into wine; at the Last Supper He turns wine into His Blood.

Serach: New Vine, New Wine

How can Jesus be truly present in the Eucharist? If we are to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, then we must believe Jesus’ words. Jesus said that He is the “Bread of Life” (Jn. 6:35) and that He would give His “flesh for the life of the world” (Jn. 6:51). He fulfills this promise at the Last Supper saying, “this is my body” (Lk. 22:19).

The Eucharist and the Cross are stumbling blocks. It is the same mystery and it never ceases to be an occasion of division. “Will you also go away?” The Lord’s question echoes through the ages, as a loving invitation to discover that only he has “the words of eternal life” and that to receive in faith the gift of his Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself. [9]

What does the Eucharist do for us?  Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist to strengthen us in our weakness, to accompany us in our loneliness, and as a foretaste of heaven itself. At the door leading to his Passion and Death, he ordains things in such a way that this          Bread will never be lacking until the end of the world. [10]
 
What else did Jesus institute that night? Jesus also instituted the priesthood. For Jesus, on that memorable evening, gave his apostles and their successors, the bishops and priests, the power to renew this marvel until the end of time. “Do this in memory of me.” Together with the Holy Eucharist, which has to last ‘until He comes’, he instituted the ministerial priesthood. [11]

What does Jesus mean when He says “Do this in memory of me”? Is the Mass a reenactment? The sacrifice of the Mass is a memorial, taking us back to the very moment of the Last Supper. The Mass is not a reenactment of what took place, like a Civil War reenactment.
In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men…In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ’s Passover, and it is made present: the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present. As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which “Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed” is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out. [12]

Why is the Mass/Eucharist called a “sacrifice”? The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: “This is my body which is given for you” and “This cup which is   poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood.” In the Eucharist Christ   gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” [13] 

Does the sacrifice happen again, multiple times, or multiple sacrifices? The sacrifice is the same each and every time; it is the sacrifice of Calvary. The manner in which the sacrifice is offered differs. Calvary was a bloody offering; the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is an unbloody offering. “The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present again) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit” [14] The Roman Catechism states, “The Sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ‘The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering tis different.’ ‘And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner…this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.’” [15]

How should we attend Mass on Holy Thursday? We should attend this Mass like every other Mass we have the privilege to attend, with an extreme sense of gratitude, thanksgiving, and unworthiness. At this Mass, we should contemplate the anniversary of the first Mass celebrated over 2,000 year ago.

For the special arrangements Jesus turned to his favorite disciples, Peter and John. These two made all the preparations with the greatest care. They took a lamb to the Temple and made a sacrifice of it. Then they returned to the house where the meal was to take place, to roast it. They also prepared water for the ablutions, he bitter herbs (which represent the bitterness of slavery), the unleavened bread (in memory of their ancestors who had to interrupt their baking in the sudden flight from Egypt), the wine etc. They made a special effort so that everything be just right. These preparations remind us of the great pains we should take to prepare ourselves for each Mass we attend. Here the very same Sacrifice of Christ is to be renewed, wherein he gave himself for us; we too are his disciples, taking the place of Peter and John in their reverent and careful preparations for the Solemnity. [16] 

Why did Jesus choose Peter and John to make the preparations? 
Peter, who was the first to confess the Divinity of Jesus, represents faith: and John, who leaned upon the breast of the Man-God, represents love. The mystery, which is to be instituted at tonight’s Supper, is revealed to love by faith. It is this that Jesus would have us learn from His choice of the two apostles; but they themselves see not the intention of their Master. [17] Saint Peter represents Faith, Saint John represents love. At the foot of the Cross we see that it is Peter (faith) that is not present, while John (love) is present to witness the perfect love of the Cross. Many times our faith might be weak, but our love strong. Love many times has to wait for faith to catch up. A child first loves Jesus and then begins to have faith in the one whom he loves.

We see this after the Resurrection when both Peter and John run to the tomb of Jesus. John (love) arrives first, but waits upon Peter (faith) before entering the tomb. Love waits for faith. In the Apostles Peter and John we see the necessity and respect of the virtues of faith and love.

How does Faith and Charity help us to not only prepare for the Holy Mass, but also activity participate in the Mass? The Church commemorates on this day the institution of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar; we should therefore consider with a lively faith that Jesus, our divine Teacher and Savior, is really and truly here present; we should adore Him as the Son of God, who became man to redeem us; should adore the love which determine Him to institute the Blessed Sacrament, that He might always be with us; and should thank Him for all the inestimable graces which we derive from this Sacrament. [18]
Our participation in Mass is the unity of our prayers and actions with the prayers and actions of Christ, our offering united to His offering, our will united with His will. He is present to us and calls us into spiritual and physical communion with Him. We cannot be in communion with a person that is not present. “Jesus will always remain really, truly, and substantially present with us in the Blessed Eucharist” [19]
 
ACTIVITY – Meaning of the Mass with the Passion of Christ
The following chart shows the priest’s actions and prayers during the Tridentine Mass (Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite). Many of the prayers and actions the priest does in the Tridentine Mass are also done in the Novus Order (Ordinary From of the Latin Rite). There are several ways to incorporate this list for deeper understanding.  For example, white out the “Christ” column and see how many prayers or actions the group can connect to the prayers and actions of Christ. You may also print the chart, cut out each of the items on the list, and see how many the group can correctly match the actions of Christ with the actions of the priest.
 
Meaning of the Ceremonies at Mass