Homily for Holy Thursday 2023.

“He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.”

In the year 1834, in the country of China, a native family who were converts to the Catholic faith welcomed a baby boy into the world. They gave him the Christian name of “Mark.” When Mark grew up he started a family of his own and raised them in the Catholic faith. He also became a doctor and lived out his faith by providing free medical care to the poor and needy. Both as a Christian and as an ordinary citizen, Mark was a widely respected member of his community.

In his mid-30s, Mark became seriously ill, and began to take opium to manage his pain. This was a common practice at the time to deal with acute and chronic illnesses. But like many who used this drug in the 1800s, and like many who overuse opioids today, Mark soon became addicted. He didn’t want to become addicted, and he struggled heroically to overcome his addiction, but he couldn’t break his habit. For Mark, his addiction was a disease. This was not well understood at the time. Addiction, in Mark’s day and age, was seen not as a disease to be cured or managed, but as a weakness of character. The addict was regarded as lacking willpower; if the addict really wanted to change, he could, but he chose not to.

As a devout Catholic, Mark regularly brought his struggle to confession. He would go to confession, admit his fault, receive absolution, go to Mass, and then shortly thereafter fall back into his addiction.  After a few years of confessing the same thing over and over again, Mark’s priest asked him to stop coming to confession until he could break his habit. Again, because the nature of addiction was not well understood at the time, the priest believed, according to the common opinion, that Mark simply didn’t want to change his life. And a genuine intention to change your life is a necessary condition for the valid reception of the sacrament.

For the next thirty years, Mark continued to struggle with his addiction. And although he could no longer go to confession or receive the Eucharist, He still continued to pray and go to Mass. He respected the decision of his priest, remained faithful to God and to the Church, and continued to raise his family in the Catholic faith. During this time, Mark began to ask God for a particular grace: He asked for the grace to become a martyr. Since the ordinary path to holiness seemed blocked by his inability to overcome his addiction, he prayed that God would grant him the extraordinary grace of dying for his faith.

And God answered his prayers. At the turn of the century, a group of Chinese nationalists known as the “Boxers” began arresting and executing foreigners and converts to Christianity. The so-called “Boxer Rebellion” resulted in the deaths of 32,000 Chinese Christians and 200 foreign missionaries. In the year 1900, Mark and nine members of his family—including his son, six grandchildren and two daughters-in-law—were arrested and executed for their faith. While on the way to their death, one of Mark’s grandsons asked where they were going. “We’re going home,” Mark answered.

When their time finally came, Mark pleaded with the executioners to kill him last, so that none of his family would have to die alone. He stood by each of their sides and sang the litany of Mary as each of them met their fate. Although he was never able to break his addiction, although he went thirty years without the benefit of the sacraments, Mark never lost his faith. He loved God, the Church, and his family. And He loved them to the end. And by the grace of God, he won the martyr’s crown. He was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1946 and canonized a saint by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

“He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.”

On the night before died, at the Last Supper, Jesus gave three gifts of love to His disciples and to us: the gift of the Eucharist, the gift of the Priesthood, and the gift of fraternal charity. He gave us these three gifts of love, quite simply, so that He might love us “to the end.” And this is the word, or phrase, I’d like to focus on this evening: this phrase, “to the end.” What exactly does it mean? What does it mean for Jesus to love His disciples “to the end”? What does it mean for Jesus to love us “to the end”?

On the one hand we can think of “to the end” in the sense of duration. Jesus loved His disciples for the duration of His earthly life. Despite their betrayal and abandonment, He loved them to his last dying breath on the Cross. He loved them “to the end.” Jesus also loved His disciples for the duration of their earthly lives. Even after He rose from the dead and later ascended to His Heavenly Father, He continued to love them. And this is true for us as well. Jesus loved us during His earthly life, and He continues to love us during our earthy lives. Jesus loves us “to the end.”

The phrase “to the end” can also be understood in the sense of destination. Jesus had a particular place He wanted to lead His disciples. He wanted to lead them to His Heavenly Father. Jesus didn’t just want His disciples to sail to any shore, He wanted them to sail to shore of salvation. He had a particular end in mind that He wanted to love them to. And He loved them to that end. This is true for us as well. Jesus doesn’t just want to love us for a long time; He wants to love us to the right place. He wants to love us “to the end,” to our heavenly destination.

This is the kind of love that St. Mark so powerfully imitated. St. Mark loved his family “to the end,” not only in the sense of duration, but in the sense of destination. St. Mark loved his family for the duration of their earthly lives. Despite his weakness, despite his addiction, he loved them to the bitter end. None of them died alone, without him at their side. He loved them “to the end.” But more than loving them for a long time, St. Mark wanted to love them to the right place. He wanted to lead his family to their true home. He wanted to love them to their heavenly destination. And He did that. He did that by raising His family in the faith, and by remaining faithful to God and to the Church despite the many obstacles that He faced.

“He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.”

This is why Jesus did everything He did on Holy Thursday, and why He did everything He did on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Jesus did everything to love us “to the end:” to love us throughout His life and ours, and to love us all the way to heaven. And this is the kind of love we are called to show one another. It’s not just about loving our neighbor for a long time; it’s about loving them to the right place. As we receive the love of Christ in the Eucharist tonight, as we witness Christ’s love in the washing of the feet, let us ask for the grace to love has He did, to love “to the end.” Amen.