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Maundy Thursday 2026
As He was taking the bread in His sacred hands, Jesus blessed it. He accompanied His words of thanksgiving by raising His eyes heavenwards, as He was wont to do when He prayed.
We love this beautiful gesture – so humble, so human. We, too, receive the bread we eat and give thanks for it. Many hands brought it to us. A farmer sowed the seed and harvested the corn. A miller prepared the flour. A baker cooked the bread. When it reaches the family table, we bless God for the work of all these hands. Above all we acknowledge the hand of God. The Father Himself gives us our daily bread. In the words of the psalm, He opens His hands and gives food to all creatures (Ps 145:16).
Jesus took the bread and raised His eyes to His Father as a grateful man and as a trusting Son. He received it and He shared it with us saying: This is my body, which is for you. This is the Bread which is received and offered, given and shared, for such is the Bread of life which the Father gives.
On the same evening, Jesus began to wash the feet of His disciples. He dressed and acted as a slave. He stooped down in order to reach their feet. He kneeled in front of each of them. He performed a work of humble and loving care. It must have been terribly humbling to see the Master at your own feet. Peter was embarrassed. He did not want any of that. That did not seem right. In a sense, this was intolerable: the Master washing his feet! But it had to be and Jesus from below told him: If I do not wash you, you have no share with me, you are not part of the mystery I am enacting and the grace I am giving. Just think of Jesus looking at Peter from below: this must have burnt his soul with a deep feeling of gratitude and love.
In Jesus, God raises His eyes to each of us from below. He looks upwards and His merciful gaze invites us to let Love do what it wants; to let Love be Love; to let Love be lived out to the end. When we share in the Bread and the Cup, when we serve our brethren, we have a share in that very Love which reaches to us from below.
On that very same evening, Jesus entered the garden of Gethsemane. He was greatly troubled and distressed and went a little farther to pray. He fell to the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him (Mk 14). Close to the ground, Jesus prayed to His Father. We may surmise that once more He raised His eyes up to heaven. At the same time, He let out the deepest cry of His heart: Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. Which prayer has ever been more pathetic and at the same time more child-like? Which gaze ever was more distressed and at the same time more trustful?
Jesus’ sacred eyes are always turned to the Father: to receive from Him and to give thanks to Him; to offer to Him and to obey Him.
When He raises His eyes to His Father from here below, Jesus finds in the way Peter and the Church and the whole human family He has come to save. For us all, He consents to the Cross.
This evening Jesus is looking at each of us. His loving and childlike gaze wants to meet ours. Come, say these eyes, let us go to my Father and your Father. Come, come down with me: kneel in adoration before the Bread of life which the Father gives; kneel before your brethren to serve and love them; kneel in obedience and submit to the cross with, in your heart, my Spirit crying: Abba, Father! Go down, do not be afraid. Death gives life. Obedience restores freedom. Love makes love possible for ever.