Take, Bless, Break, Share: A Soul’s Path to Wholeness in God

by Fr Jean Celestin Ngoma

1 Corinthians 11:17-end       St Luke 23:1-49

 

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said,
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

 

Partisanship can foster a sense of identity and belonging, but can also reinforce prejudices and reduce willingness to compromise. Increasingly, societies, including our country, the Netherlands, “De Land van 1000 meningen" “a country of 1000 opinions”, are divided on issues like foreign policy, immigration, trade, and conflicts such as those in Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran, with clear splits along party lines.

The Church of England faces demographic, sociological, and institutional challenges that could cause internal divisions. It is in this context that we will soon celebrate the Paschal mysteries of our salvation.

In today’s Gospel, we may contemplate how political and religious bias influence events: the Jewish leaders push for Jesus’ condemnation to protect their status, the crowd aligns with them under social and political pressures, and Pilate ultimately yields to partisanship, leading to Jesus’ crucifixion in favour of Barabbas.

We learn from scriptures that no one can find lasting joy in human partisanship, and our Lord has warned us not to put our trust in human beings and their enterprises.

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On Maundy Thursday, Jesus chose a meal as a tangible image of purity, hope and resilience in the face of a cold, uncertain, fragmented and chaotic world. Our Lord Jesus had to endure suffering, threats, betrayal, and misunderstanding. The chaos on the eve of His Passion did not deter Him from setting His face toward Jerusalem and embracing suffering for our salvation.

The disciples, too, had to face this unstable situation. For three years, they had lived with Jesus of Nazareth, sharing in His words and deeds. The eleven disciples were anxious because of the growing opposition to their Master and their group. Jesus was aware of the betrayal. Judas was preparing to betray Him. Yet no one stopped him because the disciples were unaware of Judas’s evil intent. He remained in the midst of the group. Betrayal by someone you trust and who is sharing a family meal with you can be deeply painful.

The eleven disciples were unaware of all that was about to happen and were anxious because of the growing opposition to their Master and their group. It is during this meal that Jesus gives a final message, both to help them understand all He has done and to reveal the meaning of His death and resurrection for them and for us, the future generations of believers.

Jesus knew it was the last meal He would share with them and wanted to give them one final testimony of love. This testament is not given only through words, but through two gestures, two signs. “This was different from the signs Herod had hoped to see when he first met Jesus in today’s Gospel.”

The first sign is that of bread and wine: the Eucharist.

During the Last Supper, our Lord Jesus somehow experienced in His human body and mind the anticipation of extreme physical suffering, betrayal, and loneliness. The weight of His mission and sacrifice is evident when He later prays to the Father, asking that the cup be taken from Him. Jesus also faced abandonment. He predicted that Peter would deny Him and that the others would scatter. Facing suffering alone only deepens emotional distress.

It is in this difficult moment that Jesus teaches us how to confront life’s limits and remain faithful to our Christian calling. On Maundy Thursday, during the institution of the Eucharist and the washing of the feet, Jesus shows us how to choose love over hatred and unity over division.

Let us visualise Jesus’ Passion and creatively participate in the Last Supper of our Lord in our mind, and creatively learn:

• From His purity, He offers Himself as a lamb without blemish. He refuses partisanship in the face of conflict and division. Instead, He fulfils the prophecy of Isaiah, the suffering servant who not only gives Himself freely, bearing the burdens of others without retaliation, but also sides with the poor, the people who are unjustly killed. He sided against war, he sided for the truth, peace and harmony, and all the values of the kingdom of His Father. Rather than defending His own cause or condemning His enemies, He chooses surrender over struggle and love over division.
• From His hope, He offers us the light of Scripture to enlighten our confusion, doubt, anxiety angst and worries. We learn that love will ultimately overcome betrayal and violence.
• From His resilience, we learn to endure our daily crosses.

This is how Christ gives Himself to us in the Eucharist: “Take this, all of you, and eat it.” His offering at the Last Supper was not weakness, but a deeper strength—a refusal to be drawn into the cycle of anger, accusation and blame. By giving Himself, Jesus opened a way beyond conflict, showing that true power lies not in taking sides, but in self-giving love.

The four gestures of Jesus correspond to the movement of our soul, not only at the end of Lent, but throughout our spiritual life, our ascension into the life of heaven. The four gestures for our souls also reflect what we might call a “therapy of joy.” In this, Jesus helps us not only to cope with struggles but to find lasting happiness and fulfilment in God. The four movements are: take, bless, break, and share, the same actions seen when Jesus fed the crowds; they are the four gestures of our spiritual growth and wholeness with God.  We contemplate in four episodes, like in a movie:

The first episode: Jesus took the bread

The “taking”  here means receiving and accepting. This is what Jesus did for our salvation, and this is what our souls need in our ascension into the likeness of God.

Jesus took upon himself our sins. He accepted betrayal and suffering for our salvation; we, too, are called to accept the trials in our lives rather than resist them or react with judgment.

We know our desolation, they are part of us: part of us may feel bitter,  and another part angry, ready to avenge. Some of us want to cry, and some want to respond to a shameful experience. There may indeed be a fire in the upper room of our hearts: fire of pain, confusion, and anger. We are called to act or accept all those “desolations’, because we cannot go to Calvary with Christ without our hearts, passions and emotions. Our desolation may become a mystery, a thing or situation we can no longer reverse or change. We accompany Jesus' suffering during His passion without trying to rewrite it, without fearing that it may hurt us. We take our desolation as it is. We may say silently: “I accept the moment as it is or it was. I let it go for my growth and peace.”

Second episode: Jesus blesses the bread (blessing):

In Scripture, the “blessing” of the bread is also  described as “giving thanks.” Jesus gives thanks before breaking the bread. This reminds us of the importance of gratitude, the blessing we do before sharing a meal.

To bless means to be grateful for the gifts we receive, no matter how small. Ingratitude is the opposite of the Eucharist (from the Greek eucharisteo, meaning “to give thanks”). Gratitude transforms struggles into insight, and ordinary moments into spiritual nourishment.

We can say: “Thank you for this gift in my life.”

The third episode: Jesus breaks the bread (breaking):

When bread is broken, crumbs fall away. What are the unnecessary pieces in our lives, crumbs of fears, pride, anger, or worries we can release?

Jesus Himself was “broken” out of love for humanity. He did not resist suffering but embraced it fully. This invites us to inner surrender, to let go of what weighs us down. Breaking also teaches humility and resilience, allowing the gifts of the Spirit to move freely within us. We may say during the breaking phase of our prayer: “I release this. I let it go for my growth and peace.” Or: “Let it be done to me according to your will.”

The fourth episode: Jesus gives the bread (sharing):

Sharing or giving restores our inner life because love flows outward. It connects us to others and completes the cycle, a circulation of energy in the soul itself. Love moves out, and that movement completes and restores the inner self.

What do we share with others? Do we bring love and kindness into the world?

From scriptures, we learn that we are not owners of what we have, but stewards of God’s gifts. Sharing may be simple: a smile, a kind word, helping someone in need, or sending a message of encouragement.

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“The sign of the bread and wine, the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday, was affirmed by a second sign: the washing of the disciples’ feet during the Last Supper.

In the washing of the feet, Jesus addresses our pride and invites us into radical humility. Just as feet are physically washed, Jesus calls for inner purification, letting go of shame and other burdens and embracing selfless care for others.

The Church, and especially priests, are called to reflect deeply on this example on the solemnity of the institution of the Eucharist. The priest is a servant, an enabler, a mediator, a channel of grace who nourishes the community of believers as Jesus did.

Some of the divisions we experience in the Church today stem from pride and the search for personal recognition. If Jesus were acting as a priest among us today, He would not divide the Church, but humbly serve and unite.

Here is the image of a priest that taps into our priestly identity and calling and the mystery we are celebrating this evening:

The people of God are called to make music for the world. It is a music that sounds freedom...It is the music of Jesus Christ. The pastors of God are called to help the Church enthral the world with the sound of Christ. Sometimes, like the person who sweeps the floor making the place ready for performance. At other times like a restorer who skilfully repairs the instruments when they have been damaged. All the time they are like a conductor whose overriding is to draw the best sound from each person. (Brown and Cocksworth)

Lord, on this Maundy Thursday,
you chose not to take sides but to give yourself.
As foretold by the prophet Isaiah,
you answered hatred with love and division with mercy.
Teach us to follow your way,
not of partisanship, but of self-giving grace.
Amen.