holy thursday
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Holy Thursday: Night of Sacrifice And Service

With Holy Thursday, Lent ends and the Church enters into the Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. This is the holiest time of the year for Christians. We enter into the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ, celebrate the Last Supper, walk with Him through the Passion and anticipate the Resurrection.

Holy Thursday is the most complex and profound of all religious observances, saving only the Easter Vigil. It celebrates both the institution by Christ himself of the Eucharist and of the institution of the sacerdotal priesthood (as distinct from the ‘priesthood of all believers’) for in this, His last supper with the disciples, a celebration of Passover, He is the self-offered Passover Victim, and every ordained priest to this day presents this same sacrifice, by Christ’s authority and command, in exactly the same way. The Last Supper was also Christ’s farewell to His assembled disciples, some of whom would betray, desert or deny Him before the sun rose again.

The Holy Thursday liturgy is one of sacrifice and service. The Gospel (from the Gospel of John) tells of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples in an act of service. He then instructs them to do the same. This Gospel then comes to life: the priest washes the feet of 12 people from the church congregation. It is an act of humble service, an example of the Christian life.

The liturgy moves then to the Lord’s Supper. Jesus and his Apostles were celebrating the Jewish Passover, a night that recalls the angel of death passing over the Jews in Egyptian captivity as they prepare to flee to freedom. The unleavened bread was necessary; there was no time to wait for bread to rise with yeast. Jesus takes this covenant, the promise between God and the Jews, and transforms it into the New Covenant, the promise of salvation and the triumph over death for all who eat and drink His Body, His Blood, in faith.

The end of the Holy Thursday liturgy is sober. After Communion, the Eucharist (which usually is held in repose in the Tabernacle) is moved and the Tabernacle stands empty. By now, Christ has been betrayed by Judas and is under arrest. The empty Tabernacle reminds us that Christ has been taken away. (The faithful then spend time in Eucharistic adoration; the Eucharist is typically moved to a temporary chapel.) In this way, the faithful “keep watch” with Jesus through the night.

The altar is stripped. The church takes on an empty, somber tone. Some churches follow the tradition of covering the crucifix and statues with a purple cloth. In essence, we anticipate our Lord’s Passion and the suffering of Good Friday.

Our faith offers us such rich, bountiful liturgical celebrations in the Triduum. Catholics and non-Catholics often refer to the “smells and bells” – incense, bells, music, and there is truth to that. Catholics worship with our whole bodies. Our senses are fed; we bow and kneel. We sing and process. We eat and drink. It is not a mere cerebral experience. We are not a quiet and polite audience to a theological discourse. No: God created us body and soul, and we return that gift by worshiping Him with our whole being.

The Holy Thursday liturgy abounds with symbols, examples of sacrifice and service, and yes, “smells and bells.” It is an opportunity to worship in a manner given to us only once a year. By all means, take advantage of this time to grow closer to Christ, our Lord and Savior.

betrayal
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Betrayal, Despair And Salvation

Surely, it is not I, Lord?

Christ begins the Passover celebration with the Apostles by telling them that one of them will betray Him, their Lord and Master. There is denial and consternation among them: Surely, it is not I, Lord?

The Gospels clearly record Judas’ betrayal – selling out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. We know, too, that Peter betrays Christ by denying he even knows Him, three times. Because the other ten Apostles were human, we know they betrayed Christ in some way. We betray Christ.

Sin is an ugly thing. It always damages relationships. Sometimes the slights are small: we are brusque with a co-worker or raise our voice to a small child. Other times, the sins are quite damaging: an abortion, an affair, theft from an employer. We betray God, each other and we betray the person God created us to be.

Despite his betrayal, Peter was chosen by Christ to lead the Apostles and the first Christians. How can that be? It is the mystery of salvation: Christ took those sins, and ours, with Him to the Cross and won for us our salvation. Peter knew He needed Christ and the salvation He offered.

What of Judas? Was his sin of betrayal so much greater? Some believe Judas’ fault lies elsewhere:

Perhaps Judas’ greatest sin was not in betraying Jesus; rather, it was in allowing himself to be consumed by a prideful despair after the betrayal. Unlike Peter and the rest of the apostles, Judas failed to repent; he failed to find hope. Like us at times, Judas could not see past his owns sins and his feelings of unworthiness. Instead of turning outward toward the Lord with a repentant heart that could have been filled with hope, Judas regrettably looked inward and saw only his own despair. Lacking the courage to begin his life anew, Judas ends his life by hanging himself.

Poor Judas despaired. He thought his sin was far too great to be forgiven. He lost hope; he failed to accept the salvation Christ offered.

There is not one of us who can stand and say, “I have no sin.” And no one of us can judge another. We even stumble when we judge ourselves, as Judas did. The Church has wisely given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation, so that a priest (acting in persona Christi) can counsel us and give us absolution. Otherwise, we could despair as well. Pope Benedict, speaking of this, said, “Let us remember two things. The first: Jesus respects our freedom. The second: Jesus waits for us to have the disposition to repent and to be converted; he is rich in mercy and forgiveness.”

This Tuesday of Holy Week, as we prepare to celebrate the Triduum, let us ponder our own need to repent, and the abundance of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Holy Week
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10 Quotes For Holy Week

With the celebration of Palm Sunday, we enter Holy Week. Hopefully, this will be a time of peace, reflection, penance and prayer for all Christians. Here are 10 quotes for you to ponder as we prepare for the Passion of Christ.

  1. We give glory to You, Lord, who raised up Your cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living. We give glory to You who put on the body of a single mortal man and made it the source of life for every other mortal man. – St. Ephrem of Edessa
  2. Ultimately, in the battle against lies and violence, truth and love have no other weapon than the witness of suffering. – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
  3. Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you – for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart. – St. Therese’ of Lisieux
  4. Be assured of God’s love for you. Seek by his grace to heal the damage of sin. Seek communion with him and with those who make up his Church and those who are not yet within. His love for all of us is unconditional. His joy is infinite. His mercy overflows. – Deacon Michael Bickerstaff
  5. The washing of the feet and the sacrament of the Eucharist: two expressions of one and the same mystery of love entrusted to the disciples, so that, Jesus says, “as I have done… so also must you do” (Jn 13: 15).  – St. John Paul II
  6. “We adore you and we bless you, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all the churches which are in the whole world, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.” – Stations of the Cross
  7. Through the stark and solemn Liturgy of the Friday we call “Good”, we stand at the Altar of the Cross where heaven is rejoined to earth and earth to heaven, along with the Mother of the Lord. We enter into the moment that forever changed – and still changes – all human History, the great self gift of the Son of God who did for us what we could never do for ourselves by in the words of the ancient Exultet, “trampling on death by death”. We wait at the tomb and witness the Glory of the Resurrection and the beginning of the New Creation. – Deacon Keith Fournier
  8. The Cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, forgiveness. It is also reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us. Remember this: God, in judging us, loves us. If I embrace his love then I am saved, if I refuse it, then I am condemned, not by him, but my own self, because God never condemns, he only loves and saves. – Pope Francis
  9. No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown. – William Penn
  10. Awake, thou wintry earth – Fling off thy sadness! Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth Your ancient gladness! – Thomas Blackburn, “An Easter Hymn”