Holy Thursday - Liturgical Prayers

 Greeting
A. This Is I for You
“This is my body, which is for you,” says the Lord. “Do this as a memorial of me.” May the Lord Jesus be always with you.
B. You Must Wash Each Other's Feet
“If I, the Lord and Teacher,” says the Lord, “have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

Maundy Thursday

 

Holy Thursday: The Stole and the Towel

 

Holy Thursday 2021: Stole and Towel

The Big Triduum

Well tonight we start the BIG three, better known as the Triduum. We wash feet, break bread, embrace our crosses and kick open the tomb again to the possibilities of a new life, an eternal life with our God so passionately in love with us. Here is a litany I found and will use on Easter. A blessed Easter for all of you.

“Lord of Easter promise, I live in Faith of the Resurrection, but such is the nature of my Faith, that so much of me remains entombed. Break open the tomb. Please respond “Break open the tomb” to each of these prayers.

Holy Thursday - Liturgical Prayers

Greeting

A. This Is I for You

“This is my body, which is for you,”
says the Lord.
“Do this as a memorial of me.”
May the Lord Jesus be always with you.

Holy Thursday - Stole and Towel

 Tony Kayala, c.s.c. 

1. Jesus was humiliated in the very heart of his own teaching by his own disciples when they were fighting for position. This is the last night. He was teaching them with his life example and stories for three years.

Holy Thursday - Liturgical Prayers

Greeting

A. This Is I for You
“This is my body, which is for you,”
says the Lord.
“Do this as a memorial of me.”
May the Lord Jesus be always with you.

Holy Thursday - Stole and Towel: Authority and Service

 Tony Kayala, c.s.c. 

1. Jesus was humiliated in the very heart of his own teaching by his own disciples when they were fighting for position. This is the last night. He was teaching them with his life example and stories for three years. They have to become the Church and continue his mission. So he does three things as a response: a. he exchanges the symbol of position with a symbol of service (stole with towel), b. they want to “take” and he says “Take this and eat” and he “gives”; c. finally he prays to the Father to keep them together in unity. These are the 3 symbols we used as we began the Lent on Ash Wednesday: a. fasting is what we do to ourselves (humility-washing – vis-à-vis love yourself), b. almsgiving is what we do for others (love your neighbour) and finally c. prayer is what we do with God (love God). These are the foundations of our faith – the two commandments lived, explained, understood differently. 

Holy Thursday 2017: Stole to Towel

Tony Kayala, c.s.c. 

1. Jesus was humiliated in the very heart of his own teaching by his own disciples when they were fighting for position. This is the last night. He was teaching them with his life example and stories for three years. They have to become the Church and continue his mission. So he does three things as a response: a. he exchanges the symbol of position with a symbol of service (stole with towel), b. they want to “take” and he says “Take this and eat” and he “gives”; c. finally he prays to the Father to keep them together in unity. These are the 3 symbols we used as we began the Lent on Ash Wednesday: a. fasting is what we do to ourselves (humility-washing – vis-à-vis love yourself), b. almsgiving is what we do for others (love your neighbour) and finally c. prayer is what we do with God (love God). These are the foundations of our faith – the two commandments lived, explained, understood differently. 

Hoy Thursday 2016

Tony Kayala, c.s.c.

1. Jesus was humiliated in the very heart of his own teaching when the disciples were fighting for position. So he does three things: a. he exchanges the symbol of position with a symbol of service (stole with towel), b. they want to “take” and he says “Take this and eat” and he “gives”; c. finally he prays to the Father to keep them together in unity. These are the 3 symbols we used as we began the Lent on Ash Wednesday: a. fasting is what we do to ourselves (humility-washing – vis-à-vis love yourself), b. almsgiving is what we do for others (love your neighbour) and finally c. prayer is what we do with God (love God). These are the foundations of our faith – the two commandments lived, explained, understood differently. 

Holy Thursday 2015 - The Stole and The Towel

Tony Kayala, c.s.c. 

1. Jesus was humiliated in the very heart of his own teaching by his own disciples when they were fighting for position. This is the last night. He was teaching them with his life example and stories for three years. They have to become the Church and continue his mission. So he does three things as a response: a. he exchanges the symbol of position with a symbol of service (stole with towel), b. they want to “take” and he says “Take this and eat” and he “gives”; c. finally he prays to the Father to keep them together in unity. These are the 3 symbols we used as we began the Lent on Ash Wednesday: a. fasting is what we do to ourselves (humility-washing – vis-à-vis love yourself), b. almsgiving is what we do for others (love your neighbour) and finally c. prayer is what we do with God (love God). These are the foundations of our faith – the two commandments lived, explained, understood differently. 

Holy Thursday 2014

Holy Thursday Reflections from Fr. Tony Kadavil:

http://www.tkayala.com/2012/04/holy-thursday.html
http://www.tkayala.com/2013/03/holy-thursday.html

For Illustrations go to:
http://www.homilystories.in/2014/04/holy-thursday.html
*****************
From Fr. Roger Swenson:

Unlikely gift, this Eucharist,

A simple supper, common fare
Compels Omnipotence to bend
To earth and save a sinner there.

Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet

Bible Gateway Commentary:
The opening verse of chapter 13 sets the scene for the whole of chapters 13--17. Love is one of the key terms in chapters 13--17, occurring thirty-one times in these five chapters as compared to only six times in chapters 1--12. Jesus now shows his disciples the full extent [eis telos] of his love. Full extent could also be translated to the last (cf. NIV note). The ambiguity is probably intentional, for the two meanings are related. Love is the laying down of one's life, and therefore to love completely means to love to the end of one's life (cf. 1 Jn 3:16). The love that has been evident throughout continues right up to the end. At the end, in the crucifixion, we will see the ultimate revelation of that love, that is, its full extent.This is now the third or fourth Passover mentioned (2:13; 6:4; perhaps 5:1). The shadow of the cross has been evident from the very outset through the references to Jesus' hour (hora). Jesus now knows that his hour has arrived (translated time in the NIV). John emphasizes the context of the Passover, for the lamb is about to be sacrificed for the sins of the world (1:29). That is part of the story, but it is also the occasion for Jesus to pass over (metabe; NIV, leave) from this world to the Father. This theme of departure and return to the Father will be developed at length in the teachings that follow.While this first verse introduces the whole section through chapter 17, it also introduces the account of the footwashing in particular. For the love that is evident in the laying down of life at the crucifixion is also demonstrated in the laying down of life in humble service in the footwashing. In the footwashing we have "an acted parable of the Lord's humiliation unto death" (Beasley-Murray 1975:154; cf. D. Wenham 1995:15).

Holy Thursday

(Courtesy: Fr Tony Kadavil)

Holy Thursday
 Holy Thursday Evening Mass (March 28): Homily Synopsis 

 

Introduction: On Holy Thursday we celebrate three anniversaries: 1) the anniversary of the first Holy Mass, 2) the anniversary of the institution of ministerial priesthood, in order to perpetuate the Holy Mass, to convey God’s forgiveness to repentant sinners and to preach the good news of salvation, 3) the anniversary of Jesus’ promulgation of His new commandment of love: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Today we remember how Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover into the New Testament Passover.  The Jewish Passover was, in fact, a joint celebration of two ancient thanksgiving celebrations.  The descendants of Abel, who were shepherds, used to lead their sheep from the winter pastures to the summer pastures after the sacrificial offering of a lamb to God.  They called this celebration the “Pass over."  On the other hand, the descendants of Cain, who were farmers, held a harvest festival called the Massoth in which they offered unleavened bread to God as an act of thanksgiving.  The Passover feast of the Israelites (Exodus 12:26-37) was a harmonious combination of these two ancient feasts of thanksgiving, commanded by the Lord God and celebrated yearly by all Israelites, to thank God for the miraculous liberation of their ancestors from Egypt and their exodus to the Promised Land.

Holy Thursday B

Fr. Tony Kadavil:

Readings
First Reading: Exodus 12: 1-8, 11-14

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26

Gospel: John 13: 1-15

Anecdotes
1) The Stole and the Towel is the title of a book, which sums up the message of the Italian bishop, Tony Bello, who died of cancer at the age of 58. On Maundy Thursday of 1993, while on his deathbed, he dictated a pastoral letter to the priests of his diocese. He called upon them to be bound by "the stole and the towel." The stole symbolizes union with Christ in the Eucharist, and the towel symbolizes union with humanity by service. The priest is called upon to be united with the Lord in the Eucharist and with the people as their servant. Today we celebrate the institution of both the Eucharist and the priesthood: the feast of "the stole and the towel," the feast of love and service.