242 Marriage, Families & Spirituality 30, 242-253. doi: 10.2143/INT.30.2.3293778 © 2024 by INTAMS/Peeters. All rights reserved Kevin Schembri & Carlo Calleja From the Upper Room to the Bedroom: Christ in the Last Supper as an Exemplar for Spousal Sexual Intimacy Spousal sexual morality presents unique challenges for moral education. Many couples sincerely seek guidance on leading a morally meaningful life that aligns with Christian discipleship within the often complex and messy context of sexual intimacy. However, discussions of this topic are frequently limited to isolated actions labelled simply as right or wrong or are conveyed through idealistic language that feels detached from reality, making the guidance seem unreachable and irrelevant to the daily lives of many well-meaning couples. is paper argues that moral development must go beyond these limitations, aiming instead at growth toward mutual perfection for each spouse and in their shared life as a married couple. For this reason, the paper turns to Christ as an exemplar, focusing on his “eucharistic” behaviour – the entirety of his attitudes, actions, and gestures – in the Upper Room, to shed light on the moral development of spouses. When, during the Last Supper, Christ told his disciples, “Do this in remem- brance of me” (Lk 22,19; also 1 Cor 11,24-25), he was not merely instructing them to perform a ritual. His words can also be understood as an earnest exhortation to remember him, learn from him, and adopt his attitudes. 1 Considered alongside other exhortations from that evening – such as “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Jn 13,34; also 15,12) and “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (Jn 13,15) – these words demonstrate that Christ’s behaviour during the Last Supper exemplifies paradigmatic acts of virtue that invite imitation. 2 For spouses, the expression “Do this in remembrance of me” takes on a new and deeper meaning, particularly in light of the preceding words and gestures shared in the intimacy of the Upper Room, “is is my body given for you” (Lk 22,19; also Mt 26,26, Mk 14,22, 1 Cor 11,24). Spouses, too, give their bodies to each other in their most intimate exchange, that of sexual intimacy. While the 1 New Testament scholar Catherine Wright notes that, particularly in Luke, Jesus does not simply instruct his disciples to adopt practices; he models them, inviting his disciples – and Luke’s readers – to emulate him as well. See C. Wright: “e Power of Example: Following Jesus on the Path of Spirituality in Luke-Acts”, in: Religions 14/2 (2023), 1-15, at 1. 2 See also the New Testament exhortations to adopt the same mind-set as Christ in Phil 2,5, to clothe oneself with Christ in Rom 13,14, and to live as Christ lived in 1 Jn 2,6.