Holy Thursday
R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
Written by Elizabeth Busby
"How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good He has done for me? I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord" - initially when I read that verse, I assumed that calling on the Lord's name was asking for His help for something. Perhaps, after seeing all of the good that He has done, I can finally place my hope in Him and boldly ask for what I desire.
When I dug a little deeper into the scriptural meaning of the cup of salvation, however, I discovered that it means: "a libation of wine poured out in gratitude for rescue." Wow, Gratitude. Not a supplication asking God for a request or to answer a prayer, but gratitude thanking Him. Thanking Him for rescuing me from any number of undesirable situations that my fallen, broken humanity has led to; thanking Him for rescuing me from the pit of despair that my sin has thrown me into; thanking Him for ultimately rescuing me from death itself and the eternal separation from Him that my sin warrants.
This is the constant tension of my spiritual life - defaulting to asking God for things instead of leading with gratitude for what He has already done and promises to do. How many of you are in the same boat? St. Paul tells us in Philippians to "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." We are able to guard our hearts in peace when we thank Him first before asking for things. That's a powerful concept, and one that can carry us through these last agonizing days before Easter as we enter into the greatest suffering that the world has ever seen.
We've arrived, my brothers and sisters, at the still, quiet moment before the world explodes in the horrific evil of killing God. Christ will ask one thing of us after this Last Supper: "be still and watch with Me for my hour has come." It's striking that the psalm that we hear tonight at the celebration of the Last Supper and the commemoration of the deepest intimacy that we can have with God this side of Heaven, consuming Him into our bodies in the Eucharist, focuses on gratitude for the good done and not petition in light of the suffering to come.
May we all have the courage to sit with the Lord in gratitude here in this moment and persevere in accompanying him through the agony of the cross, clinging desperately in the darkness to the hope of His ultimate victory.
Elizabeth Busby serves as the Director of Programs for the Theology of the Body Institute in Quarryville, PA. Check out her podcast Discerning Marriage wherever you get podcasts, and follow along with her ministry on Instagram.