“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” Luke 22:19
Heeding the word of the Lord, Christians around the world celebrated Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday today, commemorating the Last Supper, the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Orders (Priesthood) and the Sacrament of Love, the Holy Eucharist.
Commandment
Christ's "mandate" is celebrated on Maundy Thursday. "Maundy" is the shortened form of mandatum (Latin), which means "command." It was on the Thursday before His crucifixion and resurrection that Jesus said this commandment to His disciples. Jesus and his disciples had just shared the Last Supper and he was washing their feet when he stated:
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another" (John 13:34).
On the Paschal Day, Jesus raised the definition of Love, to a new and higher standard. It is this love and humility that drove the Master, Jesus to wash the disciple’s feet, even of the one who was to betray him. Through this Jesus exhibited the true trait of a leader, one of humility, sacrifice and all-inclusive Love.
Covenant
Jesus Instituted the Eucharist, the new covenant of Christ’s blood on Maundy Thursday. Through the Eucharist Jesus invites us to share in His Body and Blood. The Eucharist is our family meal, in it when we dine together in family fellowship and share communion.
Maundy Thursday is the commemoration of the new ‘Passover’. The Passover in the Old Testament was liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. The Passover in the New Testament is the liberation of all mankind from sin.
Jesus transforms the Jewish Passover into a commemoration of his sacrifice as the Lamb of God on the Cross. He is the new Moses who leads God’s people on a new exodus, not from slavery in Egypt and bondage to Pharaoh but from slavery to sin and captivity to Satan.
Priesthood
Jesus established the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the ministerial Priesthood on the Paschal Feast Day. During the Last Supper, Jesus offers himself as the Passover sacrifice, the sacrificial lamb, and teaches that every ordained priest is to follow the same sacrifice in the exact same way.
Pope Francis washes the feet of inmates at the Civitavecchia prison in Civitavecchia, Italy, April 14, 2022/Vatican Media
In washing the apostles’ feet, Christ instituted a new priesthood. He ordained the apostles to be ministers of the New Covenant that he will establish in the Last Supper, the Holy Eucharist.
Altar of Repose
After the Communion on Holy Thursday, the priest and ministers take the Sacrament to an “altar of repose” usually decorated like a garden. It’s a representation of the way in which after the Lord’s Supper, Jesus and his apostles left the Upper Room and went to the Garden of Gethsemane.
At this moment in the liturgy, we are invited to keep watch with Christ by adoring the Blessed Sacrament. We are encouraged not to flee out the parish doors, but to stay a little while and pray with Christ.
Popular traditions
Christians around the world celebrate the Maundy Thursday by not only taking part in Liturgical Celebrations but also other traditions that help them to observe the holiness of this day.
In Kerala, India, Christian families prepare the Pesaha appam and share the meal with “paal” and “pazham”, in remembrance of Jesus’s Last Supper.
In the UK, the Queen hands out Maundy Money. It’s a tradition that goes back to the 13th century. Each year the monarch visits a different cathedral to hand out a purse of coins that are minted specifically for the occasion.
In Spain, there are spectacular processions, especially in Seville, the centre of Spain’s Holy Week – or Semana Santa de Sevilla – which attracts thousands of faithful and tourists alike.
And in Italy, traditions vary from city to city. In Naples, Christians eat mussel soup whilst in some area of Tuscany a special bread called “pan di ramerino” is baked. In Rome the “Vigil of Forty” is marked in the church of Santa Maria dell’Orto which counts down the 40 hours from when Christ was crucified on Thursday night to when he was resurrected on Sunday.
In many German-speaking or central European countries Holy Thursday is referred to as “Green Thursday,” which inspired the tradition of eating green foods on this day.
After Holy Thursday, Mass will not be celebrated in the Church until the Easter Vigil which celebrates and proclaims the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.