This window is located in the St. Gregory Chapel, and came from the same 16th century monastery as the Christ Blessing the Children window. Depicted is the Last Supper of Christ with His Apostles, at which He inaugurated the Eucharistic feast and established the priesthood to share this meal with His people until He returns in glory. 

On the night before His bloody death on the Cross, Christ gave Himself as food to the Apostles in an unbloody manner. This was done at a meal commemorating the Passover (Aramaic pascha), as prescribed by Jewish law. The original Passover had occurred 1,280 years earlier in Egypt, when God ordered Moses and the enslaved Israelites to slay a "lamb without blemish", eat its flesh, and place the blood of the lamb on their doorposts {see Exodus 12:5-7}. As the Angel of Death came to strike down the first-born sons of their Egyptian captors, he "passed over" those homes where the blood was seen. Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, became the new Paschal Meal, and His Blood saves us from death. This was prophesied at the Jordan River, when St. John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching and cried out: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" {John 1:29}. A small sculpture of Christ's baptism by John may be seen on the lid of the parish's baptismal font, near the pulpit. Carved into the front of the old marble High Altar is a representation of Christ as the Lamb of God, holding a cross and sitting on a book with seven seals {see Revelation 5}. 

After that first Passover, the Israelites began their long journey to the Promised Land. When they became physically hungry, God told Moses: "I will now rain down bread from Heaven..." {Exodus 16:4}. This miraculous provision was called manna by the Jews. At the Last Supper, Jesus gave Himself as manna for spiritual hunger. He had earlier said: "God's bread comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world... I am the bread of life. No one who comes to Me shall ever be hungry, no one who believes in Me shall ever thirst" {John 6:33, 35}. 

Our Lord is the focus of this window, seated in the center of the table and framed by a Gothic arch. The Apostles are seated to each side of Him, devoutly looking on as Christ institutes the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Holy Orders. Saint John, Christ's beloved youngest Apostle, rests his head in front of Jesus. 

Jesus elevates the bread and wine which He has just changed into His very Flesh and Blood with the words, "Take this and eat it, this is My Body, to be given up for you... this is My Blood, the Blood of the new covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins." Through these words, which are repeated in the Mass by a priest acting in persona Christi capitis (in the person of Christ the Head) and following His command to "Do this in remembrance of Me", the species of bread and wine retain their outward appearances (shape, weight, taste, color, and whatever else appears to the senses), but by the working of the Holy Spirit their substance becomes the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. The Church has named this phenomena transubstantiation. 

Transubstantiation is only the first wonder of the Eucharist. The second great miracle of this Sacrament is the multiplication of the Presence of our Lord's Body in so many places at one time, while the Body itself is not multiplied - for there is only one Body of Christ. Jesus showed the Apostles His ability to provide food for all when He multiplied the loaves and fishes {see Mark 8:1-9}. 

To make the link between the Holy Eucharist and the Last Supper more explicit to the viewer, Christ is depicted holding not the loaf which was most likely used at this Jewish Passover meal, but the flat white round of bread traditionally used as the Host (from the Latin hostias - "victim" ) in the Mass for the last several centuries by the Catholic Church. 

As is traditional in depictions of the Last Supper, Judas is seated across the table from Christ and the others, isolated by his betrayal. But here, probably due to the constraints of the frame this window was originally made for, he is accompanied by one of the faithful Apostles. Judas, whom the Gospels tell us was the group's treasurer, is holding a bag of money. This also reminds us of the infamous 30 pieces of silver, the blood-money he will receive for betraying Jesus shortly after this meal. His face is looking at Christ, but his back is turned toward Him, symbolic of his choice to reject the Lord. He is also made conspicuous by his lack of a halo (Judas is the only Apostle not honored as a saint by the Church). In many paintings of the Last Judgement, the damned are depicted on Christ's left, while the saved are on His right. This may be why Judas is depicted on Jesus' left in this window, although the five other Apostles who also sit on the left are certainly not here for this reason. 

Directly across from Jesus is an empty chair, an invitation for the viewer to come and share this meal. In eating the Body and Blood of Christ, the faithful enter into Communion with Him and His Mystical Body, the Church. Catholics may partake of this meal on Sunday and every other day of the week at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the unbloody continuation and representation of the bloody sacrifice on Calvary. The institution of this sacrament is celebrated by the Church on Holy Thursday, also known as Maundy Thursday. The word maundy is the English form of a French derivative of the word mandatum (Latin for "mandate", or "command" ). 

Outside of the Mass, the Eucharist is taken to the sick and shut-in, and to those in danger of dying. When given to the dying, the Eucharist is referred to as viaticum, a Latin word meaning "provision for a journey". In this final Communion, the receiver goes to his death not alone, but accompanied by Christ, who has already been through death and conquered it. 

- St. Ambrose (340-397) 
                               translated by Robert Campbell (1814-1868) 

 - From hymns by 
                            St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)