500 Words on a Holy (Maundy) Thursday in 2008, London

500 Words on a Holy (Maundy) Thursday in 2008.

It's all about the priests.

You walk in the church, it's quiet, it's like a funeral, something seems a bit out of place. You take a leaflet, you sit down. You kneel and pray. You are in Lewisham. You are participating at the service. Lovely latin hymns strike your ears. Maundy Thursday, so named from the latin Maundy meaning mandatum, and I'm not sure if it relates to

... the instruction given to the apostles to Do This In Memory of me. The institution of the Eucharist, and the command to re-present the sacrifice of the eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

...or...

if it relates to the instruction to wash one another's feet, and more generally to be of service to others.

In any case, we certainly have a washing of the feet ceremony in the church. Also on this day,
- the ringing of bells ceases,
- procession to the altar of repose and
- the stripping of the altars

It's a very moving ceremony. And I'm looking forward to it.

It's all about God and it's all about you, because the priests are your way to God.

So the easter break is upon us from work, and the easter services begin. I never really know what to do on Good Friday. I go to the service, usually at 3pm til 5pm, but I'm not sure what to do at the other times. It's possibly the saddest day of the year, liturgically speaking, so going out and doing something fun seems innappropriate, added to which, as a day of fast ( and penance? ) I wouldn't have much energy, nor be able to eat or drink, which is what most social customs resolve around. I guess I could
- watch The Passion of the Christ and other religious drama.
- Read a little from a religious book
- Tidy/Clean the house so that it is spruced up for Easter.
- Pray a rosary

There are mving and beautiful reproaches sung on Good Friday ...

O My people, what have I done unto thee, or wherein have I wearied thee? Answer Me.

Because I brought thee forth from the land of Egypt: thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Saviour

Because I led thee through the desert forty years, and fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a land exceeding good: thou hast prepared a Cross for thy Saviour.

What more could I have done unto thee that I have not done? I indeed did plant thee, O My vineyard, with exceeding fair fruit: and thou art become very bitter unto Me: for vinegar, mingled with gall, thou gavest Me when thirsty: and hast pierced with a spear the side of thy Saviour.

I did scourge Egypt with her first-born for thy sake: and thou hast scourged Me and delivered Me up.

I led thee forth out of Egypt, drowning Pharaoh in the Red Sea: and thou hast delivered Me up unto the chief priests

I did open the sea before thee: and thou hast opened My side with a spear.

I did feed thee with manna in the desert: and thou hast stricken Me with blows and scourges.

: I did give thee to drink the water of life from the Rock: and thou hast given Me to drink but gall and vinegar.

...

I did raise thee on high with great power: and thou hast hanged Me upon the gibbet of the Cross.

O My people, what have I done unto thee, or wherein have I wearied thee? Answer Me.



The service on Good friday is also actually quite a hopeful one ( which is nice, after realising what we have done in the reproaches ), the church in it's liturgy instructs us to regard the wood of the cross for veneration, upon whom hund the saviour and hope of the world.

Faithful Cross, above all other, one and only noble Tree: none in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thy peer may be. Sweetest wood, and sweetest iron, sweetest weight is hung on thee.

Pax Christi.

Peter Kreeft- Recommended reading

So, after reading Peter Kreeft, and trying to understand philosophy, he has recommended that I read Aristotle for Everyone, Difficult thought Made Easy, by Mortimer Adler, and it is the easiest introduction I can think of to Aristotle and thereafter, Aquinas.

My next read however will not be Aquinas, or even Kreeft on Aquinas, but Pascals Pensees, another recommendation from Kreeft though.

At the end of lent, I exhort myself to remain strong, and to drink no alcohol in this holy week of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pax Christum.