Holy Thursday

Today is Holy Thursday, also called Maundy Thursday. It is the beginning of the Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday), and the end of the Season of Lent.

Here is the explanation of Holy Thursday from The Roman Missal, 1962.
From the General Decree of 1955 restoring the liturgy of Holy Week (Maxima Redemptionis):

"Let the faithful be taught about the love with which Christ our Lord 'on the day before He suffered' instituted the sacred and holy Eucharist, Sacrifice and Sacrament, the perpetual memorial of His Passion, to be offered day by day through the ministry of His priests. Let the faithful be invited to render due adoration after the end of Mass to the most holy Sacrament. Finally, wherever to illustrate the Lord's commandment of brotherly love the Washing of the Feet is to be carried out according to the restored rubrics, let the faithful be taught the deep significance of this holy rite, and let them spend this day in works of Christian charity."

The Mass today, which by order of Pope Pius XII should not begin before 5 p.m. or after 8 p.m., specially commemorates the Institution of the Blessed Eucharist at the Last Supper, and the Ordination of the Apostles, and is, therefore, a Mass of joy and thanksgiving. Hence the Church lays aside for the moment the penitential purple, and assumes festive white vestments; the Altar is decorated; the Gloria is said. During the Gloria the bells are rung, and from that time until the Easter Vigil they remain silent.

At pontifical Mass the oils are blessed for Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Extreme Unction, and the consecration of altars and churches.

On this day an extra Ciborium is consecrated for the "Mass" of the Presanctified (hence the name) on Good Friday. After the Mass this Ciborium is borne in solemn Procession, during which the Pange Lingua is sung, to the Altar of Repose.

The derivation of the word Maundy reminds us of the ceremony of washing the feet, called Mandatum, from the first words of the Antiphon: Mandatum novum do vobis (John, 13. 34). The Mandatum takes place on this day because our Lord washed the feet of His Apostles before the Institution of the Holy Eucharist from which this feast (in Latin Feria Quinta in Coena Domini) derives its most characteristic features. The Epistle, Gospel, Secret, Communicantes (special form), the Postcommunion, the Procession of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass, and the placing of the Ciborium of Hosts consecrated during the Mass in a tabernacle at the "Altar of Repose" where It is to remain until the following day, are all intended to commemorate the institution of this Divine Sacrament.

This day was the only Feast of the Blessed Sacrament up to the time when a special and very solemn Feast was instituted on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Private Masses are forbidden on this day. There is a general Communion at the Solemn Mass in which the Priests take part, to commemorate the custom of ancient times, when in cathedral churches the holy Sacrifice was offered by the Bishop, surrounded by his Priests. Another ancient rite of this day is the Blessing of the Holy Oils and the reconciliation of public penitents. The only trace of the reconciliation of the penitents in our present Roman Missal is the Collect of Mass "Deus a quo" which is very ancient. In the early Middle Ages, when these ceremonies were observed, three Masses were celebrated on this day: 1. in memory of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist. 2. for the Blessing of the Holy Oils. 3. for the reconciliation of public penitents. The second of these Masses is celebrated by the Bishop before noon in his Cathedral Church surrounded by his clergy.

After the evening Mass the Altar is stripped in order to show that the holy Sacrifice is interrupted and will not be offered again until Holy Saturday is ending.

I love Holy Thursday; all the rites and rituals are filled with such significance. We will attend Mass this evening, and I'll probably go to the Tenebrae service at our old church.