Holy Thursday — Becoming Eucharist

By Don McCrabb, D.Min.

The Eucharist is a restorative practice. It gathers strangers together and forms us into a community. It holds the tender truth of our failings and unleashes the power of our faith in the innate dignity of every human being. The Eucharist restores our humanity and sends us forth on a mission of hope.

The Church gives us two stories about the Eucharist. The first, told by Saint Paul (1 Cor. 11:23-26), summarizes what we learn from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus, when he was celebrating Passover with his disciples — the night before he died — took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, “This is my body that is for you.” Then, after supper, he took a cup of wine saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

The second, from the Gospel of John, has Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. 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.” (Jn 13:12-15)

Bread, wine, water — these are all elements that restore us when we are hungry, thirsty, stressed, dirty, tired.

Sometimes it is helpful to imagine ourselves in the scene — to be there with Jesus and the disciples. Yes, it is a “special occasion,” like Christmas and Easter for us, but it is ordinary in the sense that it happens every year. There was little variation in the ritual, and there was a stronger value on tradition. And, for the disciples, it was free of all the commercialism we experience today. I remember a homily by Fr. Joe Kozar, SM, back in the 1980’s, who said that women washed everyone’s feet before dinner. Passover was a tradition, with accepted roles, valued and embraced by the people under the occupation of Rome.

As you imagine the scene, how do you think the disciples gather around the table? Was it U-shaped? Did people sit at the table or did they recline? Was it more like a circle — like friends around a campfire — or formal, like a state dinner?

I believe it was more like a circle. The circle, the integral component of the restorative circle process, is a place where broken relationships are healed because the wounded have a voice; injustice, harm, and violence are clearly seen; and the dignity of every person is recognized and honored.

Those of us on the journey of restorative justice believe in the simple power of the circle. It is a joy serving as a facilitator in CMN’s restorative justice formation program, Conversations in Communion: Parish Dialogues for Connection and Understanding. The program intentionally, as did the Synod on Synodality, invokes the Eucharistic feast in its name: Conversations in Communion.

Through Conversations in Communion, we use restorative practices to advance the spirituality and structural reforms of synodality, leading to a deeper and more authentic communion, greater participation and a healthier co-responsibility, and a robust sense of mission.

In a circle, as in Eucharist, we drop all pretense like Jesus removing his “master” robes. Our talking piece is bread and wine. We remember stories of faith and tell our stories of doubt and uncertainty. We gather the wisdom of the community and chart a way forward. Just like the Eucharist, we leave the circle to give to others what we have received.

We become Eucharist.

As we celebrate this Holy Thursday, and recall this story of Eucharist, I invite you to consider the following:

1. How would you describe the “last supper” scene? Where are you in it?
2. Where do you see the connection between Eucharist and restorative justice?