Holy Thursday

Calendar
Calendar
Date
9 Apr 2020

Description

Thursday of the Lord's Supper

The Sacred Paschal Triduum begins with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. The word Triduum comes from the Latin for “three days.” These three days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil are the highpoint of our entire liturgical year. Holy Thursday especially commemorates Jesus’s command to serve others, modeled explicitly in the washing of feet and the celebration of the Eucharist. How do you serve others in your own family and community? Why is it important to connect our daily service to others with Jesus’s command to do so?

Even when we are unable to gather to celebrate Eucharist, we are still called to be a eucharistic people. Jesus’s self-gift in the Eucharist allows us to give freely of ourselves to others, following Jesus’s instructions, “Do this in memory of me.” Our own table fellowship with our family and friends is also a participation in the Eucharist, because the Eucharist by its very nature is deeply relational. If we limit our understanding of Eucharist to only what we receive at Mass, we are missing a major part of Christ’s invitation to us. “Do this in memory of me” is a command and call to action. Do we dare to live our lives following the example of Christ?

Download adaptation of the Holy Thursday ritual for Family and Household Prayer