Isaiah 49:1-6 / John 13:21-33, 36-38
To come together for a meal with others is not just about consuming food or giving opinions about the food that is prepared before us.
Every meal is not just a social event; it is time for bonding and the renewing and deepening of relationships and friendship.
Jesus was gathered with His disciples for a very important meal. It was the Passover meal, a sacred religious meal, which He would later turn it into the Last Supper.
So to hear that at that meal, Jesus was troubled of heart, we can immediately sense that something is not right.
And indeed things are not right at all. One of His disciples will betray Him and another will disown Him.
And the others have varying degrees of betrayal, to say the least.
But in spite of all this, Jesus still says: Now has the Son of Man been glorified.
So even in the hour of darkness, God will still reign supreme and glorified.
As we look around at our world, our surroundings, our lives, we may see quite a bit of mess or chaos.
Yet we must remember that the Lord called us by name in our mother's womb and He has formed us to be His servants, as we heard in the 1st reading.
And He will make us to be light of the nations so that God's salvation may reach the ends of the earth.
At this altar we remember that we are called through baptism. May this Eucharist also strengthen us and empower us to shine through the darkness so that God will be glorified.