The other day a man called up from Rhode Island and said that due to the role of the Church in the immigration crisis, he would never step foot in a Catholic Church ever again.

What an incredible statement. We could think back to just a few years ago, during the height of the priest abuse crisis. There I could somewhat more so understand when people would say that they would never again step into a Catholic Church.

I think the fact that we’re here tonight really does not have to do with the Church’s position on one issue or another, with whether we agree with the Church’s thinking or not. We’re not here because every priest we ever knew was a great man. As my parents (and many other parents) say, “we go to Church for God, not for the priest.”

But tonight, Holy Thursday night, we’re reminded of two things which Jesus gave to the Catholic Church, two gifts which we are to receive along with His third gift tonight, the gift of Love.

The Gift of the Eucharist is the gift which is the main reason many of us became Catholics or remain Catholics. The fact that Jesus would want us to be in spiritual and physical contact with Him through this gift is truly amazing. Why would the God of all creation, Lord of Heaven and Earth, want to be intimately associated with me?

Pope Benedict this morning recounted a story from the Russian author Leo Tolstoy which might help us answer that question. There was a king who was a brutal dictator and he demanded that the priests and wise men of his kingdom show him God. The wise men tried to convince the king that this was impossible, but the king kept demanding an answer to his request.

At the same time a shepherd was coming in from the fields. The shepherd said he could satisfy the king’s request. The king looked at the shepherd – his eyes didn’t seem powerful enough to see God. But the shepherd said to the king, “To be able to respond to your question, we must trade clothes.”

The king, moved by his curiosity, went along with the shepherd’s request. The shepherd dressed up as the king and the king as the humble shepherd. Then the shepherd said, “This is what God does.”

Tonight, after the homily, we will remember how Jesus, God the Son, became a servant to his apostles and washed their feet. He traded His crown as King of Kings to take a towel to wipe feet. Tomorrow He lowers Himself even more so, down from servant to be the hated, condemned enemy of the people, humiliated on a cross.

Jesus continues to lower Himself daily, to take the form of a piece of bread and of a cup of wine. After the consecration these things are no longer bread and wine – as Jesus Himself says, “This is my Body… This is my Blood. 

The Eucharist ties in with the 2^nd gift which Jesus gives to us on Holy Thursday – the gift of the Priesthood. It might not always seem like a gift, when we think about negative experiences we’ve had with priests. Even for myself, the most humiliating moments at my life we’re when priests yelled at me.

Pope John Paul II, when he visited the Upper Room where Jesus had the Last Supper, thanked God for the priesthood, but he also said, “It is true that in the history of the priesthood, no less than in the history of the whole people of God, the dark presence of sin is also found. Many times, the human frailty of priests has made it hard to see in them the face of Christ. Here in the Upper Room, why should this amaze us? Not only did the betrayal of Judas reach its climax here, but Peter himself had to reckon with his weakness as he heard the bitter prediction of his denial.”

I keep this quote on my bathroom mirror, so as to both acknowledge my own weakness, yet also thank God for the gift of calling me to the priesthood. God chose to have the Eucharist given to the Church through priests, and so, although we do not go to Church because of the priests, we do need to pray that God might give us good priests so that we might always have the Eucharist available to us.

This prayer brings us back around to the third gift of tonight - the gift of Love. Jesus’ example of Love, displayed tonight by His washing the Apostles’ feet is paid back by them either betraying Him, denying Him, or abandoning Him. They fall asleep in the Garden of Gethsemani when He asks them to watch and pray.

In all of this Jesus shows us what we are to expect in repayment of our Love here on earth. The repayment will not come here on earth. More often than not we will give and then get a negative reaction back – just as Jesus did.

So, we’re in this Catholic Church tonight. Some of you after Mass will go out and visit 7 other Churches, taking time to pray with Jesus in the Eucharist on this night of prayer. Those churches are there because God has given us priests and God has given us good people who are trying to live His Commandment of Love. May we grow in our understanding of and appreciation of these 3 gifts tonight.