Holy Thursday-Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

1. Lectio

Jesus knows.

He knows the hour.
He knows the betrayal.
He knows the Cross.

And knowing all this—
He does not conquer,
He does not condemn,
He does not withdraw.

He kneels.

He takes water.
He takes feet—dusty, tired, unworthy feet—
and He washes them.

“Do you realize what I have done for you?”

Which is, perhaps, the most dangerous question
ever asked by God.

2. Meditatio

I remember a year when the world seemed to be unraveling.

War.
Assassinations.
Riots.
A nation divided against itself.

And I, a boy of ten,
had just come out to The Glenn—
thinking, perhaps, that the land itself
could shield me from the chaos beyond it.

But even then,
the world had a way of finding its way in.

And yet—
in the midst of that year,
something happened.

Apollo 8.

Three men orbiting the moon
read the opening words of Genesis.

“In the beginning…”

And somehow—
that moment washed the year.

Not by solving it.
Not by erasing it.

But by reminding us
that there is a beginning beyond our endings.

And now, I find myself in another year
that feels… familiar.

Different names.
Different conflicts.
But the same unrest.

The same anxious awareness
that something is not quite right.

And I find myself asking:

What will wash this year?

Will it be another mission?
Another moment?
Another effort of man?

But Holy Thursday interrupts me.

For Christ does not wash the world
from above—
but from below.

He does not orbit the chaos—
He kneels within it.

And He does not wash the year—
He washes feet.

Which is a far more demanding thing.

For I would much prefer
a grand gesture
that restores everything at once.

But Christ offers something smaller,
stranger,
and infinitely more personal:

“Wash one another.”

3. Contemplatio (Chestertonian Synthesis)

Chesterton might say that man is always looking for a way
to clean the world in bulk.

We dream of revolutions,
movements,
great sweeping changes.

We would wash the ocean
if we could.

But Christ, in His divine absurdity,
takes a basin
and begins with a single pair of feet.

The joke, of course,
is that this is how the world is actually changed.

Not by escaping it,
not by rising above it,
but by stooping into it.

Apollo 8 looked down at the earth
and reminded us it was one.

Christ looked up at His disciples
from the ground
and made them one.

The difference is not in the vision—
but in the method.

For the Kingdom of God
does not arrive by spectacle,
but by service.

4. Oratio

5. Actio — In Light of Laudato Si’ and Synodality

…replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which “entails learning to give, and not simply to give up.

Laudato si’ §9

A new world is built not by abstraction,
but by concrete acts of fraternity and care.

Today, I will:

• Perform one humble act of service that goes unnoticed.
• Choose relationship over argument.
• Walk synodally—recognizing that the Church moves forward not by force, but by accompaniment.

For communion is not declared—
it is washed into existence.

6. Song Pairing 🎵

🎶 “Moonshadow” – Cat Stevens🎵

7. Movie Pairing 🎬

🎬Movie: “Apollo 13” (1995)

My Story

• Bishop Matthiesen, who rode the white horse of public activism even as he brought abusive priests into our diocese such as John Salazar—wounds that still mark us today. I spoke with him often, pleading with him to reconsider his “no regrets” about bringing those priests here…
• Bishop Yanta, who sought to enforce the Dallas Charter even when Bishop Matthiesen resisted him, and who bore the personal and pastoral cost of doing so. I met with Bishop Yanta about Bishop Matthiessen’s “no regrets” stance. He listened. He believed me. He acted where he could. And when he retired, he urged me—quietly but firmly—to keep speaking out.
• Bishop Zurek, who told the Diocese of Amarillo he had “no facts” about the Philadelphia report even as Amarillo’s connection to that tragedy was headline news. When I continued to speak out, as Bishop Yanta had once urged me to do, he later wrote that I was not among the faithful and loyal disciples whom the Lord Jesus desires.
• Bishop Daniel Cardinal DiNardo…

While we recognize your thoughtful suggestion for a renewed dialogue on Bishop Matthiesen, the present circumstances do not present an opportunity for it. I think it would foster division not dialogue. We remain confident in God’s providence and hopeful for what the future may bring.

from a letter dated March 5, 2026