THE LAST SUPPER INCLUDED 120 MEN ~ WOMEN ~ CHILDREN

What exactly are we supposed to do in remembrance of Jesus?

Who said the only people who attended the Last Supper were the male apostles since the Passover meal usually consisted of the entire families of all involved?

While women were excluded from Temple worship with men, women of notoriety, such as Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary and Martha, and Salome, the mother of Peter often accompanied Jesus in his travels everywhere he went, often funding food and travel expenses.

It would be odd for Jesus to suddenly not include these women and their families on this most famous meal which he knew was to be his last meal with them before his crucifixion.

I believe and teach that the writers of the gospels singled out specific apostles, or those among the apostles, from the others in attendance. It is possible that the 12 apostles arrived with Jesus, arriving separately from the rest of their extended families who shared the various meal preparations.

“The fact that twelve disciples are mentioned doesn’t mean they were the only ones present, rather it distinguishes them from the rest – the point being – how sad that it would be one of the 12 – one of the inner circle who would betray their Master,” says Robin Jones Blog.

The following paragraphs are from my next book soon to be published, In Their Image And Likeness.”

“The night of the Last Supper, Jesus did and said a lot of things. Some religious groups have enshrined only parts of the bigger picture. The washing of the feet of his apostles shows us that we are to be of service to others, not just those who are our chosen friends who think, act, and vote like us.

“We are to love all people, including people of all genders, races, colors, creeds, and differences of all kinds. Notice that there is not one word Jesus spoke in the New Testament that ridiculed nor condemned anyone identifying in any gender that is not like your own. If there ever was a time to teach this, if he deemed it important, he would have. Jesus was not shy about teaching the important matters of life.

“The transubstantiation of the heart is what Jesus came to teach humanity. The most important thing that needed transubstantiation is the realization that the Light of the Kingdom of God, the Light of Eternal Universal Life Force Energy is within every human being.

“This is the reason Jesus was crucified. He equated himself and every human being with the Light of God that animates all human Souls/Spirits.

“If that truth caught on in the rank and file of the Roman government, in religious hierarchy, and humanity at large, there would not be flocks of fearful people to give them allegiance, or bow to their power, fame, and fortune. The same is true in today’s world.”

Remember that there was not one photographer taking a picture of the Last Supper which Jesus had with his apostles and disciples numbering about 120 men, women, and children on this evening about 2023 years ago.

Artist Andrea del Castango’s 1445-1450 CE fresco, comprised of the crucifixion, deposition, and resurrection; as well Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting of The Last Supper, neatly only portrayed the apostles which are mentioned in the gospels. This is not an accurate pictorial of the Last Supper.

Jesus never said he was God, only the son of God. You and I are also sons and daughters of God because without our God-given Soul/Spirit, we would be dead, regardless of our belief system. Even atheists and agnostics die when their Eternal Universal Life Force Energy leaves their body. Belief against this concept does not change the reality.

Jesus did say that the Light of God, the Kingdom of God, is WITHIN him, you and me. Humanity has free will to accept this or not. Read Luke 17:20-21 again. If your bible has the word “among” instead of WITHIN, go to the footnote at the bottom of the page and you will see the word “within” there.

The words of Jesus have been hijacked by religious and political powers, adulterating the intention with which Jesus taught for their purposes of power, fame, and fortune. There is nothing in the teachings of Jesus about bowing down to religious and political leaders of the day.

The only agenda Jesus taught is to love, forgive, and peacefully serve one another.

Maundy Thursday shows us that the most important person in all of history, Jesus, who personified the Christ Energy, teaches everyone who claims to be Christian, how to forgive, love, and serve one another, this is what the Christ energy is all about.

Dropping harsh judgment against one another and substituting forgiveness, love, and service goes a long way to make up for the mistakes of the past. Each one of us is vulnerable to making large and small mistakes. That is simply being human.

Now is the time to forgive yourself for the times you did not understand, because without realizing it, you might not have had all the information you needed prior to making life-changing decisions. Even if you did have all the knowledge at your disposal, you made the decisions you did due to other factors. It is not usual that we go out of our way to harm ourselves on purpose.

Be gentle. Forgive yourself and others. Save the most life.

Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday as this Thursday before Easter Sunday is sometimes called, is the perfect time to go deeper in understanding yourself and others, finding common ground rather than dissecting people, problems, and projects that diminish humanity. Jesus is the perfect example of this.

It is not just the symbols of bread and wine that are transubstantiated in commemoration of this day, it is also our hearts that need to be transubstantiated into the beautiful trademarks of forgiveness, love, and service to humanity demonstrated by Jesus Christ.

Namaste ~ The Light in me acknowledges the Light in You ~ Luke 17:20-21

Holy Triduum Commemorations at Home During COVID-19 Self-Quarentine Advice

For those of us who love our faith and love to worship together, these days amid the COVID-19 pandemic make it difficult if not impossible to get out and mingle when we are advised to stay home, for the sake and love of others, even ourselves. How are we with obedience? We can get into an ego-driven power struggle, tempting God, because we believe in God, that nothing bad will happen to us. We do know, that even though we believe in God and deliberately walk in front of a moving 18-wheel truck coming towards us fast, praying all the while that God will save us, if we do not move, we will get hit and possibly die. That will have nothing to do with our belief in God. It will have to do with our lack of God-given common sense. COVID-19 is this fast moving truck seeking to destroy everyone in its path. Please do not think this truck will not hit you because you believe in God. Bad things do happen to good people.

During the holiest of weeks of the year, starting Holy Thursday evening this week, here are some alternative Holy Week suggestions. This is also known as the Holy Triduum. Here are some celebration ideas we can adopt for out at home observances, for those of us who wish to follow the directions of the medical communities and civic leaders, for the public safety for all.

Famous art displays will be presented at the end of this post. You can use them as you wish. If you use the beautiful picture where John is laying on the breast of Jesus, please note the image credit belonging to Gregory A. Shemitz. You can decide what, how and when you might like to put together a prayer service, memorial and/or Easter celebration in your home with your family. If we make a plan now, it will not catch us unprepared.

With God, there is no time and space. God is infinite. It is for our benefit that we use time, hours, days, weeks, and years. Our priests, bishops and Pope Francis will all be having Holy Triduum celebrations on television we can all watch. By our hearts desire, which God can read and know, we can be mentally present at those moments, even though we may not be physically present.

Some priests, like those at St. Anne’s Shrine, at St. Anne-St. Patrick’s Church in Sturbridge (Fiskdale), Massachusetts, have had the beautiful forethought to send all their parishioners the readings and celebrations set for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday Vigil, and Easter Sunday services. I will also include them here below. The links are PDFs.

Private Masses for Holy Monday to Holy Wednesday will be at 8:15 AM at St. Anne Church. They will be live streamed on the St. Anne/St. Patrick Parish Facebook page.

file:///C:/Users/linho/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/celebratetriduumfromhome%20(1).pdf

file:///C:/Users/linho/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/holyweekathome54%20(1).pdf

On this Thursday night, we can share Bible readings with our family, each taking parts reading the Passion of our Lord. It can be as simple and humble as using our kitchen tables, or as grand as moving the living room around, just to make it special. The kids can make posters. It can be inside or outside, depending on your imagination, landscape and weather conditions.

For Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) another idea could be to get a wash basin or bucket, water and a big bath towel so your family could re-enact Jesus washing the feet of his apostles. We are the modern day apostles of our Lord and Savior. He stooped to wash the feet of his apostles to show them that he came to serve. He told us to do the same thing. We could follow His humble example.

On Friday, maybe even at 3 p.m., might there be 14 trees, or 14 rocks or other landmarks around your yard that might make a perfect substitute for the Stations of the Cross? Or perhaps there might be a fence around your yard that could have the 14 markers for each of the fourteen stations of the cross. Or the family could take turns simply walking around the block reading each station, praying one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be prayer after each station.

Perhaps we have a candle-light service in our living room, or use the small lights from our cell phones in a darkened room, or flash lights to begin the Saturday Night Vigil on this coming Saturday night. Perhaps you could print out the pictures in this post to decorate your homes, changing them for each service you do, or keep them all up together. Pictures are a wonderful way to teach our children, especially the young ones who may not yet grasp all their deeper meanings.

On Easter Sunday, we can light our candles, or keep all the lights on in the house all day in place of the big Paschal Candle in church. Just a thought. Of course the children all love the Easter candy, but if we could keep the reason why we celebrate Easter, not the just the Easter bunny and celebrating spring as the pagans also do, but keep the attention for just a bit longer on Jesus who came to live and die and rose again to new life so that we can all experience that new life with Him as well, we will have done a very good thing.

Now for the art display:

 

 

 

God Bless