{"id":3205,"date":"2016-03-24T21:44:31","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T04:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?p=3205"},"modified":"2017-04-10T20:42:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T03:42:25","slug":"the-greatest-love-story-of-all-time-homily-for-holy-thursday-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/the-greatest-love-story-of-all-time-homily-for-holy-thursday-2016","title":{"rendered":"The Greatest Love Story of All Time – Homily for Holy Thursday 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RickThe world is full of great love stories.
\nWe see them in literature and film and in history:
\nstories like Casablanca<\/em>, Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, and Titanic<\/em>.
\nLovers like Romeo and Juliet, Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester,
\neven Matthew Crawley and Lady Mary.<\/p>\n

We all relate to a good love story.
\nWhat makes them so powerful
\nare the obstacles that the lovers try to overcome.
\nSometimes they\u2019re successful
\nand their story ends in joy;
\nand sometimes they\u2019re not
\nand the story ends in tragedy.
\nBut they remain great stories all the same.<\/p>\n

The greatest love story of them all
\nis the story we begin to tell again this evening,
\nthis Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord\u2019s Supper.
\nIt is the story of Jesus\u2019 love for his Church.<\/p>\n

The Bible has been called the greatest story ever told.
\nWe might call the three days of the Easter Triduum
\nthe greatest love story ever told.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the greatest love story ever told for three significant reasons:<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s a true story, a real story, an historical story.
\nIt\u2019s not something from the mind of Shakespeare
\nor Jane Austen or Hollywood.
\nIt\u2019s the true story of the love of Jesus.<\/p>\n

And the second reason it\u2019s the greatest love story ever told
\nis because of the unique way Jesus overcame the challenges of love.
\nEvery love has challenges,
\nbut not every love can overcome them.<\/p>\n

The first challenge lovers face is the challenge of saying goodbye.
\nIn love there\u2019s always a leaving, a departing.
\nRick stays behind in Casablanca so Ilsa can leave safely.
\nRhett Butler abandons Scarlett O\u2019Hara.
\nJack sinks slowly under the freezing water
\nwhile Rose cries \u201cCome back,\u201d as the Titanic sinks beneath the sea.
\nFor lovers there\u2019s always a time of saying goodbye.<\/p>\n

This was an especially difficult challenge for Jesus.
\nHe \u201cknew that his hour had come.\u201d
\nBut \u201che loved his own in the world
\nand he loved them to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wanted to stay, but he had to go.
\nIt was the will of his Father.
\nHe loved his Father and he loved his friends.
\n\u201cTwo loves in conflict. Which would yield?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 solution to that conflict shocks the world to this day.
\n\u201cHe did go and he did stay,
\nleft us and remained with us.\u201d
\nWhat was Jesus\u2019 solution? The Real Presence<\/em>.
\nOn the night of the Last Supper he said,
\n\u201cThis is my body\u2026.This is my blood.\u201d
\nHe is present in the Blessed Sacrament and his presence is real.
\nThe man who could be seen with the eyes of the body left us,
\nbut the man who can be seen with the eyes of faith remains with us.<\/p>\n

A second great challenge of love
\nis the desire to give up everything for the beloved;
\n\u201cto give until you can give no more,
\nto lay down even life for the beloved.\u201d
\nEvery true love is willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of the beloved.<\/p>\n

Jesus wants to save his people. He wants to give everything.
\n\u201cJesus would gladly have died a thousand deaths for us,
\nwould gladly have died daily.\u201d
\nBut a person cannot die daily.
\nA lover cannot die a thousand times for the beloved,
\nbut only once.
\nSt. Paul said it clearly:
\n\u201cChrist, having risen from the dead, dies no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this is greatest love story ever told,
\nand at the Last Supper
\nJesus has a solution that again rocks the world.
\n\u201cEach hour of the day, all over the world,
\na priest brings down on an altar
\nthe Victim of Calvary.
\nNot that he dies again;
\nbut the Christ who rests on that altar is the same Christ,
\nwounds and all,
\nwho died once for all on the cross.\u201d
\nJesus\u2019 solution: The Mass<\/em>.
\nOn the night of the Last Supper,
\nhe says, \u201cDo this in remembrance of me.\u201d
\nHis sacrifice is made present again at each and every Mass.<\/p>\n

And the final challenge that all lovers face
\nis how to achieve love\u2019s deepest desire: union.
\nLove seeks to be one with the beloved
\nin perfect, unending, union:
\nbody to body,
\nheart to heart
\nsoul to soul.<\/p>\n

But such a union happens only in heaven.
\nThat\u2019s what heaven is\u2014complete and total union with God who is Love.
\nAnd yet the Bridegroom, Jesus, longs for perfect union
\nwith his Bride, the Church.<\/p>\n

How does Jesus solve this final problem of love?
\nHow does Jesus unite with his beloved here on earth?
\nHere is how theologian Walter Burghardt describes it:
\n\u201cHe gives himself, but beneath a veil;
\nunites himself, but without making himself felt;
\na passing thing, but wonderfully real,
\nand a daily thing;
\nnot heaven, but awfully close.\u201d
\nWhat is Jesus\u2019 solution? Communion<\/em>.
\nAt the Last Supper Jesus said,
\n\u201cTake and eat\u2026Drink of this\u2026\u201d
\nWe unite with our beloved Jesus
\nevery time we come forward for Communion.<\/p>\n

The Real Presence.<\/em>
\n The Mass.<\/em>
\n Communion.<\/em><\/p>\n

These are the ways that Jesus overcomes the great challenges of love,
\nand that is the second reason why his story
\nis the greatest love story ever told.<\/p>\n

But for those of you keeping track,
\nI said that there were three reasons this love story is the greatest,
\nbut I\u2019ve only given two:
\nFirst, that this great love story is true,
\nand second, that Jesus has overcome love\u2019s challenges.<\/p>\n

The third and final reason this love story is so compelling,
\nso powerful, and so beautiful,
\nis that we are intimately bound up in it.
\nThis is not someone else\u2019s story.
\nIt is our story.<\/p>\n

We are the beloved of Jesus,
\nin this real and ongoing true story
\nof the one who conquered the great challenges of love
\nfor us.<\/p>\n

There are many great love stories in the world,
\nbut each of them is merely a shadow of the one great love story
\nin which we find ourselves here at this Evening Mass of the Lord\u2019s Supper.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This homily was built on the work of Walter Burghardt, SJ in Preaching: The Art and the Craft<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/stpeter\/SP-2016-03-24-542.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: RSS<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world is full of great love stories. We see them in literature and film and in history: stories like Casablanca, Pride and Prejudice, and Titanic. Lovers like Romeo and Juliet, Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, even Matthew Crawley and Lady Mary. We all relate to a good love story. What makes them so powerful are the obstacles that the lovers try to overcome. Sometimes they\u2019re successful and their story ends in joy; and sometimes they\u2019re not and the story ends in tragedy. But they remain great stories...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[349],"tags":[643,632,354,413,414,370,281,304],"class_list":["post-3205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homily","tag-casablanca","tag-gone-with-the-wind","tag-gospel-of-john","tag-holy-thursday","tag-holy-week","tag-pride-and-prejudice","tag-shakespeare","tag-titanic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Casablanca-casablanca-31993495-500-357.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOucj-PH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3205"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5028,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3205\/revisions\/5028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}