The Last Supper

No fixed feast day in the calendar

The Last Supper: the back of the card, with its short story, lesson and a QR code that opens it in the Catholic Information app. The full text is below.

Flip the card and scan the QR code on the back to open it in the app

The night before he suffered, Jesus took bread and the cup and instituted the Eucharist

What is this event?

The Last Supper is the last meal Jesus shared with the Apostles, on the evening before he died. It was the Jewish Passover meal, which remembers how God set his people free from Egypt. During that meal, the Lord instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, giving his Body and Blood as food for our souls. This event has no separate feast day: the Church celebrates it at the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.

The story

“When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve.” (Mt 26:20). He said: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Lk 22:15).

He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them and said that it was his Body, given for them. At the cup at the end of the meal, he said: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.” (Lk 22:20).

During the meal, the Lord sadly foretold that one of them would betray him (cf. Mt 26:21). Judas was the one who kept the money bag (cf. Jn 13:29); after taking the morsel of bread, he left at once. The Gospel says: “And it was night.” (Jn 13:30).

The Gospel does not describe where each person sat; it only tells us that the disciple whom the Lord loved was reclining close to him (cf. Jn 13:23). A young John, a white-haired Peter, and Judas in yellow holding a money bag are the traditional way of painting the scene.

What does Jesus want to teach you?

The Eucharist is the greatest gift the Lord left us: he himself stays with us. When he told the Apostles to do this in memory of him, the Lord also instituted the Priesthood. At every Mass, through the hands of the priest, the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. The Lord promises: “whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:51).

A lesson for you

Go to Mass faithfully, and prepare a clean heart before you receive Holy Communion.
Do not eat or drink anything except water or medicine for one hour before Holy Communion, and thank the Lord in silence after you receive him.
Stay faithful to the Lord; do not be like Judas, who left his Master and walked out into the night.

Identifying marks

Jesus seated in the middle, breaking a round flat loaf in two: he gives his very self to his disciples; at every Mass, the priest also breaks the Host before Communion.
A simple cup on the table in front of the Lord: the cup of the New Covenant, made in his Blood poured out for us.
Young Saint John seated close to the Lord, white-haired Saint Peter on the other side: the Lord invites his close friends to sit near him; you are invited in the same way.
The other apostles around the low table: the Eucharist is the meal of the whole family of the Church; the Lord invites everyone to prepare a clean heart to come to him.
A man in yellow in the right-hand corner, turning away with a small money bag in his hand: in the traditional way of painting this scene, this is Judas; whoever leaves the Lord for money walks into darkness.

The text on this page is the card in the Catholic Information app, word for word.