Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. - Mt 26:26-30
We don't get this account of the institution of the Eucharist at the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper. But I think that the Church is very wise to give us St. Paul's summary of this event - which is not much shorter than St. Matthew has recorded - as the epistle reading so as to underscore the importance of serving each other by using the washing of the disciples' feet as the gospel reading.
There will actually be a session on the Corinthians reading later in this step (so no link here), but in the chastening context in which St. Paul recounted it, which is a longer reading than we'll have at mass.
I always assumed that the Passover meal Jesus shared with his disciples was a seder. I've learned this week that the seder wasn't instituted until 70AD. Nonetheless, the unleavened bread and the wine were both important elements of the Passover supper, and for Jesus to redirect them for us is profound beyond our understanding, even if we grasp the original intention of these ritual elements. As Catholics, I think we contemplate too little how the details of salvation history all point to Jesus, and that leaves us ill equipped to appreciate why the Eucharist is what we proclaim it to be. I am not significantly better about this area of exegesis than other Catholics are.
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