To the gift of this singular presence, which brings him to us in his supreme sacrifice and makes him our bread, Jesus, in the Upper Room, associated a specific duty of the Apostles and their successors. We have all experienced a new momentum in the Church at the dawn of the new millennium, in the sense of starting afresh from Christ (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 29 ff.). May Lord Jesus Christs benediction shower upon you and your close ones and enrich their lives with happiness, harmony, and prosperity. But of one thing we must be convinced: anticipating our invitation, and even before we speak the words of the sacrament, the brothers and sisters who seek our ministry have already been touched by a mercy that works from within. The criterion that is used in dealing with real abuse cases among the clergy is seldom applied to members of the episcopacy when wrong doing occurs. Wishing you all on this Maundy Thursday. This is what happens in the case of Zacchaeus. First, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples and thereby instituted the Lord's Supper, also called Communion ( Luke 22:19-20 ). Yes, great indeed is the wisdom of God, who by instituting this sacrament has made provision for a profound and unremitting need of the human heart. Jesus appears as someone with a precise mandate. Blessed Mother Teresa, It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass.SaintPadre Pio, The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love; It signifies Love, it produces Love. He pauses near him as if the meeting had been planned from the beginning. Let us truly pray for his soul. Let us experience it above all for ourselves, as a deeply-felt need and as a grace which we constantly look for, in order to restore vigour and enthusiasm to our journey of holiness and to our ministry. 11. Ask ways how to live a day searching his purpose for you. It pays tribute to the descriptions in the Canonical Gospels like The Last Supper and the Washing of the feet (Maundy). Amen! Pastoral practice needs to take this into greater account, in order to strike a wise balance between gatherings which emphasize the communion of the Church and other moments which attend to the needs of the individual. Catholic Online Prayer Candles - light your prayer candle. Our minds turn to the pages of the Gospel which reveal most directly the merciful face of God. 10:34). Let us now blindly follow his footprints in this Maundy Thursday. Please God, we shall know how to cooperate with the mercy that welcomes and the love that saves. Maundy Thursday gets its name from the Latin word mandatum, which means "commandment." Other names for this day include Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of the Mysteries. "I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
The Last Supper by Valentine de Boulogne (1625-1626). Let us make it a memorable and cheerful Maundy Thursday by expressing our gratitude for all we have in our life. Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. Holy God, source and sovereign, you put all power and authority into the hands of Christ, who washes our feet in humble service. What is "Maundy Thursday"? This year, Maundy Thursday is being celebrated on April 14. Truly we can repeat with the Psalmist: What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? Maundy Thursday is the fifth day of Holy Week, . Every encounter with someone wanting to go to confession, even when the request is somewhat superficial because it is poorly motivated and prepared, can become, through the surprising grace of God, that place near the sycamore tree where Christ looked up at Zacchaeus. They need to discover in us both of these roles, both dimensions. Luke's account is remarkable for the tone of the language: everything is so personal, so tactful, so affectionate! The lesson he has taught depicts that good work will never let us perish and will always lead us to perpetuity. He was ordaining them priests of the New Covenant he was instituting in the Last Supper. While each region may have its own local . Believe in him, he will lead you to eternity and greatness. Let us refine our hearts and minds with modesty and fairness, let us spread the message of love all over the globe. The ceremony of washing feet was also referred to as "the Maundy.". The evening Mass on Holy Thursday is referred to as The Mass of the Lord's Supper . My dear friends, we do live in difficult times. The day commemorates the Last Supper, during which, according to the Bible, Jesus rose from the table . 3. A very Happy Maundy Thursday to all. In the English-speaking world, this day is called Maundy Thursday. In climbing the sycamore tree, Zacchaeus seems prompted by curiosity alone. At this time too, as priests we are personally and profoundly afflicted by the sins of some of our brothers who have betrayed the grace of Ordination in succumbing even to the most grievous forms of the mysterium iniquitatis at work in the world. My thoughts turn to you, dear priests, I want to reflect with you on some aspects of our priestly life in the context of the Divine Liturgy. God bless you. This is the time when Jesus offered Himself as the lamb at the last supper. Most Christian churches in mainline denominations, and some of the more fundamental churches, commemorate Maundy Thursday in some way, but the types of services vary greatly. Others because they want advice about something. Blesses Holy Thursday. The other of the two extremes, laxity, fails to take into account the fact that the fullness of salvation, not just offered but also accepted, the salvation which truly heals and restores, involves a genuine conversion to the demands of God's love. With the words of Christ to the Apostles in the Upper Room after the Resurrection, and calling upon the Blessed Virgin Mary, Regina Apostolorum and Regina Pacis, I warmly embrace you all as brothers: Peace, peace to each and every one of you. On this day, Christians commemorate Christ's Last Supper with His disciples. Confessors very often find it hard to communicate what the Word demands to those who have only a superficial knowledge of it. With the last Supper, he made us teach the last lesson which is taking care of everybody without any discrimination of caste, creed, colour, and position. But mercy has already come to him as a gratuitous and overflowing gift. They are the representatives of . Blessed Holy Thursday May The Lord Bless You And Protect Your Family Throughout The Day. Let us remember and celebrate the beautiful selfless act of Jesus Chris for his disciples in the Last supper. We do not have a right to minimize matters of our own accord, even with the best of intentions. Lk 19:3). Let us unite and join hands and pray to Lord Jesus Christ to give us the utmost tolerance like him and to make benevolent like him. Obviously, the actual celebration of the Sacrament is not the best time to make up for the lack. With the last Supper, he made us teach the last lesson that is taking care of everybody without any discrimination of caste, creed, color, and position. Maundy Thursday also called Holy Thursday is celebrated a day before Good Friday which is observed by Christians in the United States. Some priests wash the feet of church attendees on the date as part of their service, as a reminder of . Wishing for your betterment in this Holy Thursday. HOLY THURSDAY: PRAYER FOR PRIESTS As we commemorate today the Institution of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, let us thank God for the gift of priesthood, pray for our priests and ask for more priestly vocations all over the world. - Believe in him, he will lead you to eternity and greatness. His venerated words, taking actions accordingly will turn us into the best person and will also help us get emancipation. Required fields are marked *. This day is part of the Holy Week leading up to Easter. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Visit Father James Farfaglia, the Happy Priest, on the web and sign up to be notified when his new book is released. It will remind us of the compassionate facade of our Lord and will help us to reform ourselves to be the same. Let us make this Holy and auspicious day as remarkable and as significant as Good Friday and Easter Saturday as this is the day that inaugurated the cascade of reverent and resplendent events. For then the priest as it were lends Christ his own face and voice: Do this in memory of me (Lk 22:19). Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Happy Holy Thursday, everybody! Sanctified Maundy Thursday, Everyone. Those who hear many confessions and see how people ordinarily approach the sacrament can be disconcerted by the way certain penitents come to confession without even a clear idea of what they want. 6. Let us walk in the route of being selfless, forgiving, and loving, let us start our journey in the path shown to us by Lord Jesus through his selfless oblation. But nothing that God does happens by chance. To clarify all of this, the biblical icon of Zacchaeus provides yet another important cue. The rubrics of the Mass of the Lord's Supper say, "Depending on pastoral circumstances, the washing of feet . We are meant to be loving and enlightened interpreters of this wisdom though the personal contact we are called to have with so many brothers and sisters in the celebration of Penance. This was a profound time in which Jesus ministered to and taught his disciples. When the priest repeats the words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, the bread is no longer bread and the wine is no longer wine. More than once I have drawn attention to this fact, even making it the theme of a gathering of the Synod of Bishops, whose reflections I then presented in the Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia. 1. My dear Brothers in the Priesthood: in recalling this truth, I feel a pressing need to urge you, as I did last year, to rediscover for yourselves and to help others to rediscover the beauty of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Wish you all a divine Maundy Thursday. The vast majority of all abuse cases are between priests and teenage boys or young men. With this in mind, penitential celebrations with community preparation and individual confession can be very helpful. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world" (John 6: 51). Instead, the entire substance of the bread and the entire substance of the wine have been changed into the substance of The Body and Blood of Christ. Today share some information about the Happy Maundy Thursday History, Sayings, Wishes, Quotes, Text, Messages, Status, and Greetings Available in this post. Warm greetings on Maundy Thursday. As we follow this brief but powerful story, we try to capture in Christ's demeanour and in his voice all those nuances of wisdom, both human and supernatural, which we too must strive to communicate if the sacrament is to be celebrated in the best possible way. According to the bible, this day is when Jesus showed his humility by washing the feet of his disciples and commanded them to do the same thing with each other.