Saints + Scripture: Sacred Triduum | Holy Thursday

The Popish Plot
"Holy Thursday"

Commentary: Last year, The Popish Plot capped off a successful but exhausting vLent with our observance of the Triduum. This year, the Triduum serves instead as an introduction to the glorious madness of vEaster: Fifty episodes, one a day every day from the Resurrection through Pentecost.

Death without the Eucharist: Day 23
He was twenty-three days dying & not yet dead.

'Tis Holy Thursday (A.K.A. Maundy Thursday), act one of the Sacred Triduum, the Thursday of Holy Week: Holy Thursday-link & Wikipedia-link Holy Thursday, & Wikipedia-link Sacred Triduum; Holy Week-link & Wikipedia-link Holy Week.

Commentary: Wayback Machine Holy Thursday. Quoth Joyfully Living the Gospel Day by Day:

During the Eucharistic celebration there is the ceremony of the washing of feet. It was the custom to wash the feet of a guest in Jesus' time. Today it is a sign of our willingness to love & care for our neighbor.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Chrism Mass
The Book of Isaiah, chapter sixty-one, verses one, two, three(a), six(a), eight(b), & nine;
Psalm Eighty-nine (R/. two), verses twenty-one & twenty-two, twenty-five & twenty-seven;
The Book of Revelation, chapter one, verses five thru eight;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter four, verses sixteen thru twenty-one.

Mass Readings—Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper
The Book of Exodus, chapter twelve, verses one thru eight & eleven thru fourteen;
Psalm One Hundred Sixteen, verses twelve & thirteen, fifteen & sixteen(b/c), & seventeen & eighteen
(R/. the First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter ten, verse sixteen);
The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter eleven, verses twenty-three thru twenty-six;
The Gospel according to John, chapter thirteen, verses one thru fifteen.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. He is giving them a visual proclamation of his new commandment: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another."

When we accept this commandment, we walk the path of joy. When we internalize this law, we become happy. And so the paradox: happiness is never a function of filling oneself up; it is a wonderful function of giving oneself away.

When the divine grace enters one’s life (and everything we have is the result of divine grace), the task is to contrive a way to make it a gift. In a sense, the divine life—which exists only in gift form—can be "had" only on the fly.

Notice that we are to love with a properly divine love: "I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father." Radical, radical, radical. Complete, excessive, over-the-top.

Reflect: Compare how Christianity defines happiness with the opposite way our culture defines it. Which way are you practicing?

Video reflection by Father Roger Lopez, O.F.M. (U.S.C. of Catholic Bishops): Daily Reflection.

"Easter of Hope" Reflection (Array of Hope):

In Today’s Gospel, we hear, “He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end.” This beautiful and profound scripture is in reference to the incredible mystery of Christ’s divinity being fully Man and fully God. Like us, Jesus had friends and family who He loved dearly. Despite the fact that most would abandon Him during His Passion, He still cared for each of them. Knowing that He was going to die and they would watch, truly broke His heart. They were His friends; He didn’t want them to suffer, but He knew it would happen. So, He washed the Apostles’ feet and commanded them to do the same to others. He wanted them to know that He served out of love and He desired them to follow His example and do the same.

Do you understand the magnitude of Christ’s love for you? It is unlike any other love on earth and goes beyond our human comprehension.We are His own in the world. He loves us to the end. Despite how many times we’ve sinned or betrayed Him, we are still loved and seen as His priceless sons and daughters. Jesus gave up everything for you and me. He held nothing back. We are about to enter the Triduum; the final three days of Lent. In these final days, let us look to Christ and hold nothing back. As we await in the darkness, let us remain awake and journey with Christ as He begins to prepare for His passion. Let us pursue the lives of love and sacrifice as Christ did. As we enter into the Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection beginning this evening, let us think of something that we can do to honor and glorify our Lord.

Today’s Tip: Think of one thing you can do to change someone else’s life and do it. It doesn’t have to be anything too extraordinary. The smallest acts of kindness make the biggest impacts. Jesus washed our feet as a servant, so let us do the same with our neighbors!

Video reflection by Dr. Scott Hahn (Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Gospel Reflection.

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 88
The Book of Numbers, chapter thirteen, verses one, two, & twenty-five thru thirty-three;
The Book of Numbers, chapter fourteen, verses one, two, three, & twenty-six thru thirty-four.

Commentary: Spies Sent into Canaan (Numbers, 13:1-2, 25-33), the People Rebel (14:1-3), & God's Punishment of the Disobedient (14:26-34).

Scripture Study—The 3:16 Project
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter three, verse sixteen.

And when Jesus was baptized, He went up immeidately from the water, & behold, the heavens were opened & He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, & alighting on Him;

†

Otherwise, 9 April would be the commemoration of Saint Materiana (born circa 440; also spelt Madrun, Madryn), Queen of Gwent: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine '18.

'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Waltrude of Mons, Religious (died circa 688, also spelt Waudru, etc.): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Commentary: Daughter of Ss. Walbert of Hainault [11 May] & Bertille of Thuringia [3 January]; sister of St. Aldegundis [30 January]; wife of St. Vincent Madelgarius [20 September]; & mother of Ss. Landericus of Soignies [17 April], Dentelin [?], Aldetrude [25 February], & Madelberte [7 September].

'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Hugh of Rouen, Bishop & Abbot, O.S.B. (died 730, A.K.A. of Champagne), Bishop of Paris (722-730), Bishop of Rouen (720-730), Abbot of Fontenelle Abbey, Abbot of Jumièges Abbey: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Paris, Wikipedia-link Rouen, Wikipedia-link Fontenelle, & Abbey-link Jumièges & Wikipedia-link Jumièges.

'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Casilda of Toledo, Anchoress (circa 950-1050, A.K.A. of Briviesca): Saint-link ūna, Saint-link duæ, & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Gaucherius, Priest & Abbot, O.S.A. (1060-1140), founding abbot of the monastery at Aureil: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the commemoration of Blessed Antonio Pavoni, Priest & Martyr, O.P. (circa 1325-1374), martyred by Waldensian heretics: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"With the institution of the Eucharist, we enter into the very heart of humanity's drama. Will it be life directed toward death, or life open to eternity!"
—Pope St. John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, r. 1978-2005; feast: 22 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Christ is the Morning Star, Who, when the night of this world is past, gives to His saints the promise of the light of life, & opens everlasting day."
—St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor of the Church (672-735, feast: 25 May)

Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day

"When our Lord came to this earth, the gospel says of Him, 'He came unto His own & His own received Him not.' He had to be born under the floor of the earth, in a cave. One has to stoop to enter a cave. And the stoop is the stoop of humility. At the end of His life He was rejected by the earth again. The trees turned against Him, the trees that He made, for they gave Him a cross. The bowels of the earth turned against Him, for they produced a hammer & nails. The roses blushed a deeper red, for from their branches came a crown of thorns. And the earth itself would not have His feet, so they raised Him above it. As earth rejected Him, so did the heavens. There was darkness over the earth for three hours. And the sun which He had made as a symbol of Himself & as death & resurrection in daily life now hid its light, almost as if ashamed to shed itself upon the crime of deicide."
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)

Chesterton Quote o' the Day

"A meal is nothing if it is not eternal."
—G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)