"I Have Earnestly Desired..."
Above: Last Supper, ©Barbara Bjelland 2019, 20” tondo oil painting.
Have you ever meditated on Christ desiring not just our obedience but also our love and companionship? Luke notes this in his account of the Last Supper, which we celebrated on Maundy Thursday. Luke writes:
And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them,
“I have earnestly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer (Luke 22:14,15 RSV).”
Christ’s words struck me in a new way after reading Gary Castner’s book on St. Therese of Lisieux (see footnotes below). She said, “[Jesus] has no need of our works but only of our love.” 1 Christ not only desired to share his last supper on earth with his friends because he wanted to teach them; he wanted to be with them and wanted the comfort of their companionship before he went to the cross.
Above: Cross Banner, ©2022 Barbara Bjelland, 70” x 26” fabric banner digitally designed from original pencil drawing.
St. Therese’s thoughts tie together the love that Christ shared at Last Supper and the love that was poured out on the Cross. She knew his
“sacrifice on the cross…unleashed the mercy of God so that [humanity] could once again be united to him.”
Through offering himself on the cross, Christ makes it possible for all to enjoy the “beautiful feast’ of Christ’s victory. 2
And because of Christ’s victory over sin, death, and evil, we can be united with God now and forevermore. We become God’s very own children, the moment we say “yes” to him. God “eagerly desires” our love.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (1 John 3:1, RSV)”
Therese wrote that Christ guided her soul “with tenderness and sweetness.” 3
1 Gary Castner, The Little Way of Lent: Meditations in the Spirit of St. Therese of Lisieux (Cincinatti: Servant Books, 2010), p. 1.
2 Gary Castner, p. vii.
3 Gary Castner, p. vii.