Holy Thursday
Baruch,
Chapter 6, Verse 22
Know, therefore, that they are
not gods; do not fear them.
Heed
the words of Saint John Paul the Great in confronting the gods of this age: money, love, self, happiness, equality and celebrity.
Evil is
never defeated by evil; once that road is taken, rather than defeating evil, one will instead be defeated by evil.
Peace
is the outcome of a long and demanding battle which is only won when evil is
defeated by good. Flee what is evil and hold fast to what is good. Peace
is a good to be promoted with good: it is a good for individuals, for
families, for nations and for all humanity; yet it is one which needs to be
maintained and fostered by decisions and actions inspired by good. "Repay
no one evil for evil" (Rom 12:17). The one way out of the
vicious circle of requiting evil for evil is "Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom 12:21). At its deepest
level, evil is a tragic rejection of the demands of love. Moral good, on
the other hand, is born of love, shows itself as love and is directed towards
love. All this is particularly evident to Christians, who know that their
membership in the one mystical Body of Christ sets them in a particular
relationship not only with the Lord but also with their brothers and sisters.
The inner logic of Christian love, which in the Gospel is the living source of
moral goodness, leads even to the love of one's enemies: "If your enemy
is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink" (Rom
12:20).[1]
Tutelage of the
Holy Spirit[3]
Being
baptized in Christ is the only requirement for receiving the Holy Spirit, but
to grow in the Spirit there are certain things that are necessary and these are
a few of them.
§ A genuine desire to be
holy
I always use the word 'holy' to mean living a life pleasing to God in every possible way, not just in those
matters you consider expedient; and obeying his commandments to the fullest
extent that you are capable of. Holiness has to be your goal and you must be
prepared to do whatever it takes to attain it, which includes a total,
unwavering commitment. The course is gruelling and if you aren't committed, you
will crash out in no time.
§ Heartfelt repentance: You have to be
genuinely sorry for your sins. It doesn't matter that you might be constrained
by sin at this point — part of the Holy Spirit's role is to take away the
constraints and free you of sin, which will happen in time — but what is
important at this stage is that you be truly sorry for the offences that you
have committed against God and be determined never to sin against him anymore.
§ Honesty and courage: Another requirement is honesty, more
with ourselves than with anybody else, and the courage to face up to who we
really are. Most of us put up facades for public display and have been doing it
for so long we have ended up even fooling ourselves. The Holy Spirit is going
to rip the masks apart, albeit gently, and reveal things about you that you
will not like to see. If you aren't willing to face up to the truth of who you
are and be ready to remedy yourself without justification, you aren't going to
make much progress.
§ Love for God: A vital requirement is a genuine love
for God, translatable into action. Love for God is something that will grow as
you grow in him, but what you need is a basic element of it to begin with,
because it is only love for God that will help you make a lot of the tough
decisions that you will be called to make as you progress through this school.
The more love for God that you have, the more you will be prepared to do for
him, which will, consequently, make it that much easier for you.
Holy Thursday is also known as Maundy Thursday and is a celebration
of the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood. There were originally
three separate Masses for Maundy Thursday. The first, no longer in use, is the Mass of Remission, whereby the public
penitents who had been doing special penance during Lent were received back
into the Church. The second is the Chrism Mass, when the bishop
blesses the holy oils to be used for the year. The third is the evening Mass
of the Lord's Supper, in which the Church celebrates the institution
of the Eucharist and the priesthood. The special ceremonies for this exultant
Mass (the Gloria returns and white vestments are used) include the
priest's washing the feet of twelve men, the removal of the Eucharist to the
Altar of Repose, and the stripping of the altars. After the Blessed Sacrament
is "laid to rest" in a special tabernacle on the Altar of Repose, it
is customary for the church to stay open all night and for private devotion to
take place. A variation of this custom is to visit seven such shrines during
the night in imitation of the Sette Chiese of the Roman Stations (see Stations). This custom was quite popular in
American cities like Boston until the late 1960s.
"Clean" Thursday Customs
Because it was the day that penitents and
catechumens were cleansed of their sins (and allowed to bathe again), Maundy
Thursday is known in some parts of the world as "Clean" Thursday. The
idea of cleanliness also extended to the rest of the faithful. In a time when
bathing did not happen every day, Clean Thursday became the occasion for
thoroughly cleansing the body in preparation for Easter. There is also a
charming legend that after the bells are rung for the Gloria
during the Mass of the Last Supper, "they fly to Rome" where --
depending on who is telling the story -- they either are blessed by the Pope
and sleep on the roof of St. Peter's Holy Saturday night, or are given Easter
eggs to return with them on Sunday morning.
The Mass was the center of life for the disciples of
Jesus, and so it has ever been. The first Christians were Jews, living in a
Jewish culture, steeped in Jewish forms of worship. The liturgy of the new
covenant had been foreshadowed in the rituals of the old. The Mass is
explicitly connected with the Passover meal. There are also parallels between
the thank-offering or todah and the
Mass.
A
todah sacrifice would be
offered by someone whose life had been delivered from great peril, such as
disease or the sword. The redeemed person would show his gratitude to God by
gathering his closest friends and family for a todah sacrificial meal. The lamb would be sacrificed in the
Temple and the bread for the meal would be consecrated the moment the lamb was
sacrificed. The bread and meat, along with wine, would constitute the elements
of the sacred todah meal,
which would be accompanied by prayers and songs of thanksgiving, such as Psalm
116.[6]
The Talmud records the ancient rabbis’ teaching
that, when the Messiah has come, “All sacrifices will cease except the todah.”
In fact Greek scriptures rendered the word todah
as eucharistia, the word from which
we get “Eucharist.”
Tonight
If possible visit Him in the Bless Sacrament chapel between 9 P.M. and midnight
for it was on Holy Thursday between these hours that our Lord was in so much
agony over us that He sweat blood and he was most alone. Spend time with Him.
Daily Devotions
·
Manhood of
the Master-Day 5 week 9
·
Do
60 min. in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
·
Please
pray for me and this ministry
[2]
Thigpen, Paul. Manual for Spiritual Warfare. TAN Books.
[5]
Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40 Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap.
4. The Mass.
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