Here is the homily of Archbishop Leo Cushley from Thursday of the Lord’s Supper at St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh.

“My dear friends, tonight we begin our solemn journey as we accompany the Lord on his last hours on this earth, facing an unjust and cruel end, that God the Father will turn into triumph.

Our readings are set for us, and we always listen to an ancient account of the Passover, to St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and to St John’s account of the Washing of the Apostles’ feet and of the Lord’s mandatum, that is, his command to us all to do likewise.

But before the readings, at the start of the Mass tonight, the whole Triduum is kicked off by the words of St Paul in the very opening antiphon: it stands at the door of the next three days, and through it we ought to see and feel the idea that tonight is actually the opening episode of one great liturgy that continues over the next three days, coming to its highlight with the Lord’s resurrection on Easter Sunday.

We should imagine that the liturgy starting now, tonight, continues like one, great, long, liturgy over the whole weekend, divided for convenience into three parts, so that we can also go about our normal business.

But it’s important to feel the weight and the grandeur of what we are doing and to see it as a unit.

And, so, tonight’s opening antiphon in the Roman Missal endeavours to set the scene for us and to establish the tone, and the direction of our thoughts. It comes from St Paul, and goes like this:

We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered.

In very few words, it tells us the direction of travel for the next three days, and it tells what we should think about it and how we should feel about it.

Standing before the Cross of Christ

What we are about to begin is nothing less than the story of how we are saved and redeemed and restored to life: we will be in the upper room; we will stand before the Cross of Christ; we will enter the tomb with him; Christ’s Cross will become our salvation and our hope; and we will be able to glory in it, no matter what comes.

St Paul’s account of the Last Supper in our second reading is also extremely valuable to us, because it’s the very earliest account of the Last Supper that we have, predating the Gospels by some twenty years or so.

That makes it precious to us, but what is all the more remarkable is that St Paul wasn’t there on the night before Jesus died.

He was of course alive somewhere: we understand he was a student of Torah in Jerusalem when he was younger, and so he might have been in Jerusalem at the time of the Last Supper; he was a contemporary of Jesus, although he never mentions it.

On the other hand, he himself tells us that he was deeply hostile to the early Christians until his conversion experience; and after his conversion, he joins the small embryonic Church.

He joins as a learner, he meets people who have been following the Lord since the beginning, and he learns what it is they do to remember the Lord, until he returns. And one of the things he learns of is the Last Supper.

So, St Paul tells us in tonight’s second reading what he learned, and we see how anxious he is to pass along this precious information faithfully, and unaltered to his readers both in Corinth and in Edinburgh.

He says, “What I received from the Lord, is what I also pass on to you”… that on the night before he died he took bread and wine, he blessed them, he said “This is my body” and “This is my blood” and that he added, “Do this in memory of me”.

St Paul finishes with, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”.

St Paul doesn’t know when the Lord will return, but he tells the Corinthians – and us – to continue doing this faithfully.

Notice too that we are proclaiming the Lord’s death at this point, and rightly so.

The Lord does die for us. Many come along shortly and challenge the fact that Jesus died; the fact that there was an empty tomb; even the fact that Jesus existed in history, even to this day.

But Paul states boldly, confidently, that Jesus is real; his death is real, and his command to us via St Paul is real.

Tonight, we remember the Lord as he commanded us to do: we proclaim his death until he comes; we serve each other in love, just as he loved us; and we glory in Him who is our salvation, our redemption and our eternal life with God.