Daily Reflections ...

But where do we start? Try loving God with the entirety of your being and loving your neighbour as if they are the most important person in the world, and see how you get on.

There are two things to bear in mind. First, our desire to live the way God asks of us always starts ‘now’, as none of us can claim to have been living that way perfectly already. And so, we read in today’s text from the book of Exodus, “This month shall mark for you the beginning of months”; that is to say, ’Your time starts now.’

Then we consider that we are to be people who are immersed in a Eucharistic spirituality. This immersion is so much more than being committed to attending Mass. Eucharistic spirituality means that we seriously regard that God calls out to us again to come, be healed, be taught, be nourished and be sent out again to love the Lord with everything you are and to love your neighbour as yourself. And when you fail, come again to Jesus, be healed, be taught, be nourished and be sent out again.

Today is Holy Thursday, the day on which, among other things, we celebrate the gift of the Eucharist inaugurated at the Last Supper. It marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum: that period in our faith calendar in which the most important aspects of our faith are brought before us again for our consideration. There, we encounter in the One who is our only Teacher how his love for God with his whole heart, soul and mind, and his love for each of us as himself, brings about life for all those who place their hope in him.

by Shane Dwyer