Dear Friends, It is Thursday afternoon here, less than an hour from the time to celebrate the Passover of the Lord in today's Eucharist. The meaning of that gift, Eucharist, is so profound. When a person gives all they are and have, especially when they know they are about to die and are saying goodbye to the people who mean the most to him or here, one cannot help but be moved. I am blessed this year to lead this celebration, this sacred event for what I anticipate will be about 70-80 people. Twelve have volunteered to have their feet washed, and four of us will dry. I am the only priest among them; most of the volunteers are African nuns. Almost all of the music will be in Swahili, which I do not understand, but for this I do not need to understand. I will read the Gospel selection and give the homily. Those will be in English! Ha!....................................................................................Now to the sixth installment of reflections on the seven last words of Jesus: "It is finished." John 19:30. After saying those words he put his head forward and the Gospel writer says, "He gave up his spirit." ....................................................This cry, "It is finished" is not just a statement that all is over and that he will now die. Rather, it is a cry of triumph. It means, "It is completed". What he literally says is, "It is perfected." At the beginning of the Last Supper John, the Gospel writer, tells us that "having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to perfection." On the cross we see the perfection of love............................................................................................ I hope that all who read this can admit to having had dreams of perfect love, love that is utter and complete. When we are young especially, but also at other times of life, we can be infatuated and we may think that no one has ever been so totally in love as us. Many people who marry feel sure on their wedding day they are at the beginning of eternal bliss, but as time goes on they usually mature about this question. Experience tells them that the honeymoon ends. They soon discover that they are much the same, remaining much the same self-centered person as they were before. So too their beloved, not quite so fantastic either. He or she may be self-centered, have a terrible sense of humor, snore in bed, or have other irritating habits. Was their dream of perfect love just an illusion? Do we become cynical??.................................................................These words of Jesus quoted above invite us to carry on seeking to love perfectly. We will arrive at that fullness of love in the end and at the end. In fact each of these sayings of Jesus shows us the successive steps in the deepening expression of his love for us. "Forgive them for they know now what they do." In these words he does not even address us. He talks to his Father. "Today you will be with me in Paradise." This is a more intimate love. It is addressed to us, but from above, as a king. "Behold your mother, Behold your Son." This is a further step toward closeness, addressed to us not as a king but as our brother. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This is so deeply intimate that he has entered into our very souls and embraced our own desolation. But the perfection of love is in the words, "I thirst." The fullness of love comes when Jesus begs for something from us and accepts it with gratitude. Now his love is complete. ...................................................................................................The soldiers give Jesus what they have, some sour old vinegar. It probably tasted disgusting but it is what poor soldiers drank and so they shared it. The could not afford decent wine. Jesus accepts what they have to offer. At the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus asked the disciples what they had to give to the crowd and they reply, "Just five loaves and two fish." It is not much. It is all they had and so it was enough. Faced with our hungry world with millions who starve, we may not feel that we have much to give. If we give what we have, then it will be enough. ...................................................................The perfection of love comes when we receive the gift of the other person as he or she is. They might not be quite what we had dreamed of. They may be less intelligent, less witty than we had hoped. They will certainly one day be less beautiful. We dreamed of first-growth Merlot or Cabernet and perhaps what we got was just old vinegar. If we can accept that gift with gratitude, then our love will be on the way to perfection..............................Perfect love is possible and we see it on the cross. If we love at all, then God's perfect love can make its home in our fragile and faulted loves. If we accept to love the other person as they are, without complaint or blame, then God's perfect love will make its home in us. ................................................................................................... Bernie Owens PS. Over 100 people jammed our chapel for our Holy Thursday Eucharist this afternoon. All went well including the music, most songs in Swahili, with drums, the footwashing, and the procession of the Blessed Sacrament throughout the chapel immediately after the mass. Very moving!