Catholic Fire

Holy Thursday is also known as "Maundy Thursday." The word maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum (commandment) which is the first word of the Gospel acclamation: Mandátum novum do vobis dicit Dóminus, ut diligátis ínvicem, sicut diléxi vos: "I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34) These are the words spoken by our Lord to His apostles at the Last Supper, after he completed the washing of the feet. Easter Triduum Easter or Paschal Triduum is the ancient name given to the three days of the ‘pasch’ or ‘passing over’ of the Lord, beginning on the evening of Holy Thursday and ending on Easter Sunday. This is the "Feast of feasts", the high point of the Church’s liturgical year, when we celebrate the heart of our faith -- the great mystery of salvation when Our Lord Jesus Christ passes through suffering and death to the new life of the Resurrection. The triduum liturgies teach us the meaning of Christ’s life, death...

Brothers and sisters:I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. ~ 1 Cor. 11 -23

"What we are celebrating over the coming days is the supreme confrontation between Light and Darkness , between Life and Death . We too must place ourselves in this context - aware of our own night, our own sins, our own responsibilities - if we wish to gain spiritual benefit from reliving the Paschal Mystery, which is the heart of our faith." The Holy Father speaks on the Easter Triduum : Holy Thursday : " the Christian community relives "the events of the Last Supper. In the Cencacle, the Redeemer wished, in the Sacrament of the bread and wine transformed into His Body and Blood, to anticipate the sacrifice of His life, His definitive gift of self to humanity." Good Friday : "is a day of penance, of fasting and of prayer, of participation in the death of the Lord. ... The community adores the Cross and takes the Eucharist, consuming the sacred species conserved from the Mass 'in Cena Domini' of the preceding day." On Holy Friday, Christi...