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Lent And Holy Week (A Primer) Posted by Frank -Feast of St. Vincent Ferrer  We are officially past the half-way point of the Lenten Season.  Before you know it, it will be Holy Week. As a convert who entered the Church on Holy Saturday in the Year of Our Lord 2008, I'll never forget that experience. Those who serve as sponsors for the Catechumens and Candidates never forget it either.But if you are like me, it is good to be reminded of not only what is taking place on that day, but for the whole season. The recollection of what...

“Why Is This Night Different?” (Exodus 12; Luke 22:7-20)Earlier this week, in Jewish homes all around the world, families gathered and celebrated the annual Passover meal. A meal is served--the Seder meal, as it is called--with certain items of food and drink served in a set order. And a ritual is observed; the liturgical text that’s followed is called the Haggadah. As part of that ritual, the children at the table ask a series of questions about why they’re doing the things distinctive to this meal: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” the children will ask. “Why...

In Christian communities all around the globe, the Thursday immediately before Easter is designated Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday. The term Maundy comes to us with two different definitions. The first says that it is an old English word that springs up out of the Latin mandatum. This mandate comes from John 13:34-35: A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, you also ought to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. One the other hand, some...

...At the very epicenter of our Liturgical Calendar is the great Three days we celebrate, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Resurrection of the Lord, the Sacred Triduum. Good Liturgy is not simply a re-enactment of something that happened over 2000 years ago but an actual participation in the events themselves through living faith. ... We will soon attend the Last Supper and receive the gift of the Holy Eucharist, the Body, Blood Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. We will enter into the deep meaning of the Holy Priesthood. We will be invited to pour ourselves out like the...

Featured Term (selected at random):SACRAMENT HOUSE A method of housing the Blessed Sacrament in a tabernacle outside the sanctuary usually on the north side of the church. Sometimes it was richly canopied and the repository screened so that the Host could be dimly seen. It was widely used in Switzerland, Belgium, and Germany until the last half of the nineteenth century. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

IV. Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper 44. With the celebration of Mass on the evening of Holy Thursday, "the Church begins the Easter Triduum and recalls the Last Supper in which the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, showing his love for those who were his own in the world, he gave his body and blood under the species of bread and wine offering to his Father and giving them to the Apostles so that they might partake of them, and he commanded them and their successors in the priesthood to perpetuate this offering." [50]45....

III. The Easter Triduum in General 38. The greatest mysteries of the redemption are celebrated yearly by the Church beginning with the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday and ending with Vespers of Easter Sunday. This time is called "the triduum of the crucified, buried and risen"; [42] it is also called the "Easter Triduum" because during it is celebrated the paschal mystery, that is, the passing of the Lord from this world to his Father. The Church, by the celebration of this mystery through liturgical signs and sacramentals, is united to Christ, her spouse, in intimate...

I love a good surprise, don't you? I love a good rumor, don't you? I especially love a good rumor about a good surprise. Verbum Patris sums up.Various blogs and news agencies have been reporting on ‘well informed sources’ who say that the Holy Father will unveil a ‘good surprise’ to the Catholic world during this years Holy Week celebrations. Originally mentioned at Catholic Sector, suggestions on the likely surprise range from the return of the Sedia Gestatoria, to the end of Communion in the hand and even the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Me thinks some may be...

“Love for Disciples” (John 13:1-17, 31b-35)“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Yes, he did. Maundy Thursday is all about Jesus’ love for his disciples. “Love for Disciples” to receive, “Love for Disciples” to learn. Love for disciples to receive--in the footwashing. Let’s set the scene. It’s the evening of the Passover. Time for the Passover meal. This is the meal all Jews ate every year on that date, to commemorate the night the Lord brought Israel out of bondage in Egypt. It was a special occasion, solemn and sacred. Jesus had...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, In the Upper Room, on the eve of his Passion, the Lord prayed for his disciples gathered about him. At the same time he looked ahead to the community of disciples of all centuries, “those who believe in me through their word” (Jn 17:20). In his prayer for the disciples of all time, he saw us too, and he prayed for us. Let us listen to what he asks for the Twelve and for us gathered here: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have...

On this Holy Thursday as we begin the great Triduum, the Three Days, we will read this wonderful account in the Gospel of St. John which reveals the depth of the Love of Jesus Christ and invites us into to a new way of living our lives now in Him: "So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water...

US President Barack Obama will celebrate Passover Thursday night with staff and friends in what is believed to be the first White House Seder attended by an American president. The event was slipped onto the president's public schedule Tuesday night with little fanfare, following a letter signed by Obama earlier in the day wishing Americans who mark the day a "peaceful and relaxing holiday."

“There Will Be Blood” (Exod. 24:3-11; Heb. 9:11-22; Matt. 26:17-30)“There Will Be Blood.” When God saves a people and takes them for his own, there will be blood. There always has been. There had been blood on the night of the Passover, the exodus from Egypt, when the Lord God brought his people Israel out of bondage. On that night, death was coming to every household in Egypt. But the Lord provided a way of escape. “Tell the people, Moses, to take a lamb without blemish or spot, slay it, and take the blood of the lamb and spread it...

Maundy Thursday   This day, Maundy Thursday (also "Holy Thursday" or "Shire Thursday"1) commemorates Christ's Last Supper and the initiation of the Eucharist. Its name of "Maundy" comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning "command." This stems from Christ's words in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you." It is the first of the three days known as the "Triduum," and after the Vigil tonight, and until the Vigil of Easter, a more profoundly somber attitude prevails (most especially during the hours between Noon and 3:00 PM on Good Friday). Raucous amusements should be set aside... The Last...

“The Meal, Christ’s Suffering, and the Coming of the Kingdom” (Luke 22:7-20)Our text is the Holy Gospel, from Luke 22, the account of our Lord’s institution of his Holy Supper. Specifically we want to look at these words from our Lord which Luke records, where Jesus says to his disciples: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Likewise Jesus says to them, “For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the...

Holy ThursdayThe Last Supper - Chartres Cathedral - stained glass window (detail)Family Activities | Stations of the Cross | Christian Passover Seder | Readings | Adoremus: Articles and Document on Footwashing Nos autem gloriari oportet in cruce Domini nostri Iesu Christi,in quo est salus, vita et resurrectio nostra per quem salvati et liberati sumus. We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for He is our salvation, our life and our resurrection; through Him we are saved and made free. (cf. Galations 6:14)-- Entrance Antiphon for Holy ThursdayHOLY THURSDAY is the most complex and profound of...

The thirteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel relates the story of the Last Supper in the Upper Room. However, where the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) take this opportunity to record the details of the Supper itself, along with the Words of Institution and the offering of Jesus Christ under the species of bread and wine, the Fourth Gospel does not record these events. Instead, St. John records the story of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. What did St. John see in this event that was so important that he felt it necessary to record these actions...

by Fr. William Saunders Other Articles by Fr. William Saunders The Triduum and 40 Days 04/20/06 Is the Triduum part of Lent? When I count the days from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, I find that it only turns out to be 40 if we count the Triduum and do not count the six Sundays during that period. I know that the date of Ash Wednesday was specifically selected to produce a 40-day Lent. So aren’t the three days of the Triduum really part of Lent? Here is one time when the “straight answer” is not going to be clearly “straight.”...

Priests should be men of prayer rather than activists, Pope Benedict XVI said as he celebrated the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday with the priests of Rome. Every priest should constantly nurture his friendship with Jesus Christ, since the essence of the priesthood lies in serving in persona Christi, the Holy Father said. He concluded his homily by citing the words of Father Andrea Santoro, the Italian missionary who was killed in Turkey in February, who said that in his priestly ministry he was "giving Him my flesh." On Holy Thursday, as the Church recalls the Last Supper and the...

ROME, April 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In his meditations for this year’s Stations of the Cross, the annual commemoration of the biblical events of Christ on the way to be crucified, Archbishop Angelo Comastri, the Pope’s Vicar General, asked, “What is it that today, in particular, strikes at Christ’s holy body?” Comastri wrote for the stations this Good Friday and posted already to the Vatican’s website, “There is a move to reinvent mankind, to modify the very grammar of life as planned and willed by God.” Comastri’s meditations are in line with a stream of thought of Pope Benedict who...