Over and over throughout the Gospel accounts, we hear that little phrase: “For his hour had not yet come” … “His hour had not yet come” “his hour had not yet come.”

Well, here we come to it at last:

“Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come” …in order to do what?

“To pass from this world to the Father.”

In other words: The Hour for him to lay down his life. To offer himself up freely. To glorify the Father, and pass from this world back into the Father’s embrace…

This is the Hour. The time had finally come.

Then we hear this:

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

The Greek word used here for “the end” is the word “telos” — And this is a very VERY important word. 

“Telos” means — the final goal, the purpose… the end and fulfillment. It’s that which “something was always meant for.”

For example, the “telos” of a lightbulb is to illuminate a room — That’s what it’s for! The fulfillment of a lightbulb is when you turn on the lights in a room! That’s its final end!

The “telos” of an airplane is to transport people from one place to another.

The “telos” of a an apple tree is to produce apples, which then spread seeds, which then go on to produce more and more apple trees!

So, we hear — Jesus loved his own “to the end” — to the “telos.”

What’s the “telos” — the FULFILLMENT, the PURPOSE, the END GOAL — of Jesus?

In short: To lay down His life for His friends. 

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said: “Every other person who ever came into this world came into it to live. [Christ] came into it to die.”

His Passion and Death was the supreme act of His entire life. Everything led up to this moment, this HOUR… and everything would totally change because of it. 

Sin would no longer have any real power. 

Forgiveness would be offered to all. 

Death would be defeated.

And we would all now have ACCESS to a brand new relationship with the Father…

Nothing would EVER be the same following the events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. This is literally the CRUX…of history! The CROSS is the CRISIS…the literal TURNING POINT. It’s the hinge upon which everything else swings.

And so what exactly does Jesus choose to do at this supreme moment? This most critically IMPORTANT hour — the CRUX and HINGE of all time and space?

He bends down and washes the filthy feet of his disciples.

That’s how Jesus commences his Hour. 

This is how Jesus shows us what His “telos” — His absolute “purpose” and “end goal” looks like:

He drops down on His knees, and begins to serve.

He gets down to our level.

He submits to the dirt.

He enters our mess.

And He loves us… to the end.

When he is finished, Jesus gets back up and asks His disciples: “Do you realize what I have done for you?”

Do you realize how far I’ve gone in order to reach you? Do you realize how low I’ve come down in order to lift you back up? Do you REALIZE how insane all of this really is? — God’s own perfect eternal Son… washing the feet of sinners???

“In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as expiation for our sins.”

But the foot washing wasn’t the end of the story, either! …Jesus then went even further that fateful night in the Upper Room…

While at table, “the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” … “Do this in remembrance of me.”

This moment is of course when Jesus instituted the Most Holy Eucharist, but it was also when He established the Priesthood of the New Testament!

The apostles were the first ordained Catholic priests! Jesus told them: “Do this in memory of me.” Offer this once-for-all Sacrifice in memory of me… Make the Sacrament of My Love available to EVERYONE …for the rest of time…

Plain and simple: We need priests. The Church needs young men to step up to the challenge, discern God’s will, and then answer the Lord’s call if He is inviting them to become priests and offer the Holy Eucharist. It is very true that we simply don’t have enough priests. And the priests we do have can sometimes feel burned out and discouraged…

…We need to pray — We need to ask “the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest!”

Because without validly ordained priests, we don’t have the Blessed Sacrament. And without the Blessed Sacrament, we do not have the source and summit of the Christian life:

“Unless you eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, you have no life within you” Jesus says.

Tonight is the Hour that Jesus gave us this greatest gift — this most pure proof of His enduring love for us — In the Most Holy Eucharist, Jesus loves us to the end.

And so, Jesus asks us once again tonight:

“Do you realize what I have done for you?”

Do you fully appreciate yet the gift of the Holy Eucharist?

The short answer is, of course: No.

None of us really appreciates this gift fully yet. Not one of us fully realizes — fully grasps — what He has done for us! …

But what we can do is drop down to our knees in humble Eucharistic Amazement. We can allow this supreme act of God’s love for us to impact us once again, here and now. We can ask the Holy Spirit for fresh eyes and new hearts to once more fall in love with this God who isn’t too proud to get down to our level, and wash our feet.

When we humbly contemplate these mysteries, then we will be filled with the grace to follow after Him.

Because that’s our “telos” — Our goal… our purpose.

We are meant for… made for… God.

He loved us to the end.

Now we are to love Him, and each other… to the end in return.