Openness to loving...and to being loved

As I write this, it is Maundy Thursday in the Christian calendar. It is a day pregnant with meaning...with somberness...with mystery and awe and wonder. The scene of the Last Supper is vividly etched in the minds of most of us.

In my devotions this morning, part of what I did was read today's entry from The Daily Feast. Here is what the author, Christine Chakoian wrote:

"So it is for us, in the meal that Jesus offered on the night of Passover, on the night before he was to die. We are invited to remember - especially on Holy Thursday - not as if we were present at the Last Supper with our Lord and his disciples but that we were at Table with them. Every time we are at Table, and especially this night, the act of Communion triggers and forms the memory that we were once bound and now are freed, and that we belong to the God who saves us. 

"As we say 'on the night that he was betrayed Jesus took the Passover bread and gave it to us,' we are invited to remember that Jesus offered his life for us, not when we were particularly worthy, charming, faithful, or successful, but when we betrayed him."

The word "Maundy" comes from the Latin word that means "command," from which our word "mandate" derives. It refers to Jesus' commands to wash the feet of others and to love each other as He loved (and loves) us. Perhaps it also implies that we need to open ourselves up to be loved - by God and others - even at those times when we feel most unlovable.