Broken for Others

My husband and I went to the Chrism Mass for our diocese on Tuesday this week. At this mass, the bishop blesses the Oils of the Sick and of the Catachumens, and consecrates the Sacred Chrism Oil. These oils are then taken back to the individual parishes in the diocese and used throughout the following year for the various sacraments. It was a beautiful, very reverent mass.

The Bishop's homily was about the Eucharist--the body and blood of Jesus. He talked about how Jesus' body was offered as a sacrifice, consecrated, and broken for us. As a people, when we take in the Eucharist at mass, we are united together as the Body of Christ--the Church. We offer ourselves, are consecrated through the Eucharist, and are meant to be broken for others. So we take the Eucharist into ourselves, and we become the Eucharist, in a sense, for others.

Today's gospel reading for Holy Thursday is the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet at the Last Supper, and challenging them to serve others in the same way he served them.

And considering these two things, I ask myself.....am I serving others the way he did? All the way to the cross?

Do I allow myself to be "broken" for others? Especially for the dear, dear souls in my own household?

I have a long way to go.