Holy Thursday

April 9, 2020

Today we remember that it is Holy Thursday, which begins the Triduum.  Click here to view on YouTube an oral understanding of Holy Thursday. This is possibly one of the most complex and important celebrations in the Catholic Church because Holy Thursday celebrates the institution of the Eucharist.

At the Last Supper, Jesus offers himself as the Passover sacrifice. This teaches every ordained priest to follow his lead in sacrificial giving and stresses the importance of the humility of service to others.

For many, this is the day where a Passover Meal would be celebrated in the home (or school in our case) to commemorate the sacrifices of the Hebrew people as well as their exodus from bondage.  Moving to the evening when Mass is celebrated, the priest will often wash the feet of twelve people to symbolize Christ's washing the feet of his twelve Apostles.  The liturgy of this evening, marks the end of Lent and the beginning of the sacred "Triduum" of Holy Week.  These three days are the holiest of all days in the Catholic Church.

For me, there is a bit of a sadness that comes with this day. At St. John's we have had a tradition of celebrating this day with a Passover Meal or Seder Meal.  The students spent much of the morning preparing for the Passover Meal and held it in great reverence. It is hard to not hear the voices of excitement that always bounced off the walls within the school during preparation.  The children would prepare the food, the table and be all nervous/excited about washing each others hands (instead of feet).

Then came the meal and, oh how we loved all the traditions, what the food symbolized and all the songs we got to learn and sing!

Singing, "Our God is an Awesome God"

We then would have had lunch, recess and moved to praying the Stations of the Cross.

Today, the school is quiet and I wish it wasn't!

While the sadness is experienced, it only lingers until it is wrapped in the hope and joy that can choosen.  There is no denying that times are difficult but I make the conscious decision to choose hope and joy because amongst all that is happening, the truth remains: Christ came to redeem and left us with the hope of salvation.

In Romans 8:18 we read, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

Join me in choosing hope and joy, no matter how this day ends up unfolding itself for the glory WILL be revealed.

Peace friends!


Here is a link to the Magnificat