A Glimpse of Life.: Maunday Thursday Ceremonies.

It was on Maunday Thursday that Christ, the Lamb of God, gave Himself into the hands of those who would slay Him. It was also on this day that Christ our God instituted the Holy Eucharist, so that we who eat His flesh and drink His blood may proclaim His Holy Sacrifice and be partakers of His Resurrection, and at the last day, may reign with Him in heaven. Additionally, Christ showed us by example, the perfect example of living a Christian life, that of service to others. Christ took a towel and washed the feet of the disciples. He told His disciples to do to others as He has done for us.

Following the celebration of the Holy Eucharist on Maunday Thursday, the Blessed Sacrament is carried to the Altar of Repose, representing our Lord's departure for the Garden of Gethsemane. It is there that the clergy and the people will keep watch with our Lord, giving answer to the question: "Could you not watch one hour with me?" In response to Jesus' request, for centuries Christians have kept watch throughout the night of Maunday Thursday and into the morning of Good Friday.

In 1987 members of the clergy and congregation of St. George's Cathedral and College, Jerusalem made their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. They joined hundreds of other Christian witnesses who went there to pray and to keep watch. Later, some of these moved on in prayer, following the path that Jesus would have taken on His way to the house of Caiaphas, and His trial before the Jewish leaders of the Sanhedrin.

The trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin.

Image Site Link: http://www.rswoodford.co.uk/year7/lentsanhedrin.html

The altar in the church is stripped. Since the altar symbolizes Christ, the "stripping of the altar" symbolizes the abandonment of Jesus by his disciples and the stripping of Jesus by the soldiers prior to his crucifixion. Gone are the flowers, the candles, the altar cloths. The Cross is either removed or covered by a black or purple cloth. It will remain in this state until it is time to prepare for the Easter Vigil.

Psalm 21 (22):The Stripping of the Altars

Sung by the Schola of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.

Site Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W55CMgRW0Ug&feature=related

The question that Jesus asked the soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemene is a question for all people, for all time. It is a question that helps either focus us, or freeze us in our uncertainty. "Whom do you seek?" Or, in a more plain form of everyday English, "Who are you looking for?" That is the question around which our lives take root, blossom, and ultimately bring forth fruit. If and when we are able to answer on our own, "Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour", then and only then will our live have meaning and purpose. It goes hand-in-hand with that other essential question that Jesus posed to His disciples - "Who do you say that I am?" By the end of Easter we should all be able to answer that question.

The Seder Meal.

A Seder Meal is a Christian Passover meal. It begins with symbolic foods and a form of service based closely on the traditional Jewish Passover ceremony.

The symbolic foods are:

4 glasses of grape juice for the 4 promises God gave the Israelites:

I will bring you out of Egypt,

I will free you from slavery,

I will save you by my own hand, and

I will take you to be my people and I will be your God.

Parsley represents new life, dipped in salt water, it represents their tears.

Matzoh the unleavened bread – represents the haste in which the Israelites were forced to leave the land of Egypt.

Horseradish (bitter herb) represents the bitterness of the long period of captivity and slavery in Egypt.

Haroset (chopped apples and walnuts with cinnamon and honey) represents the mortar used to make bricks, the work the people were forced to carry out.

Lamb bone/lamb, represents the Passover lamb (Jesus).

Egg represents the offering brought to the temple (doves).