Saints + Scripture: Sacred Triduum | Holy Thursday

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Popish Plot
"Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments"

'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.

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.

Commentary: Chrism Mass Readings.

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: Triduum Readings.

Commentary: Gospel 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 please 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.

Video reflection by Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers (U.S.C.C.B.): Triduum Reflection.

Video reflection by Doctor Tim Gray (Augustine Institute/Formed.org): Triduum Reflection.

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 Saint John Paul II the Great (1920-2005, r. 1978-2005; feast: 22 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"I tell you that you have less to suffer in following the cross than in serving the world & its pleasures."
—Saint Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (1786-1859, feast: 4 August)

Mother Teresa Quote o' the Day

"On the Cross, Jesus said, 'I thirst.' He was not asking for something to drink. When they offered Him vinegar He didn't drink it… Very often we offer Jesus a bitter drink too. This bitterness comes from the depths of hearts & wells up in our words. When we give this bitterness to each other, we give it to Jesus."
—Saint Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997, feast: 5 September)

Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day

"Let no one think he can be totally indifferent to God in this life & suddenly develop a capacity for Him at the moment of death."
—Venerable Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)