Archbishop Gordon: Love each other as Jesus did

CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP Jason Charles Gordon called on Catholics that gathered for Holy Thursday mass to sacrifice by giving themselves whole-heartedly, like Jesus did in his last days.

“The Eucharist is an act of complete self giving; for to love is to give yourself,” Gordon said.

“In the Eucharist, Jesus is giving himself to us. So when it comes to the Eucharist, what we come to is the greatest festivity of love that has ever existed.

"If love is giving yourself in your love, then the Eucharist is Jesus giving himself to us unreservedly, completely, holding nothing back.

"Then he says, 'As I do, so must you do.' It is a memorial, an invitation to enter into that sacred event 2,000 years ago, where Jesus gave himself to us.”

During the service, Gordon washed the feet of members of the congregation, in commemoration of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples just before the Last Supper.

Gordon in his sermon explained that the act of washing feet was, in Jesus’ time, an act of ultimate hospitality, as there were few paved roads and people had to walk through mud and dust to visit homes.

He said, even in this act of washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus was teaching how people should treat one another.

“Have you ever had someone wash your feet?” Gordon asked the congregation.

“Washing the feet is the task of the lowest of servants. Jesus says as you see me doing so, must you do also.”

Gordon said the nation needed love and many people were crying out in pain, even those who spoke negatively about the country.

He called on Catholics to follow in Jesus’ footsteps to give those people love wholeheartedly.

“How do we find love? By giving it away,” he said.

“You will be shocked to know that, as you give love away to others, it starts coming back to you in multiple ways. But if you hold it in your heart and lock it up, you will find that you will become unlovable.

"The mystery of the Eucharist is the mystery of love.

"Tonight we come to this festival of love, and Jesus is saying: 'As I am loving in this wholehearted way and I am giving everything to you, you too must love one another.'”