HOLY THURSDAY
"Hoc est enim Corpus Meum"
"Hic est enim Calix Sanguinis Mei. Novi et Aeterni Testamenti: Mysterium Fidei: Qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum"
"This is My Body...This is My Blood"
Today is the Solemnity of the Mass of the Lord's Supper marking the institution of the Holy Eucharist when Jesus took bread, offered it to His Apostles and said, "Take this, all of you, and eat it: This is My Body." Then, as the priest says at every Mass, "He took the cup, filled with wine. Again He gave You thanks, gave the cup to His disciples, and said: 'Take this, all of you, and drink from it: This is the cup of My Blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of Me.'" These words, repeated at every Mass are the essence of confecting the bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. Today we focus on "why" the Blessed Sacrament in our special liturgical page for Holy Thursday. For today's readings, lesson and liturgy, see LITURGY FOR HOLY THURSDAY, see Daily LITURGY
|
|
|
White vestments
Thursday, April 12:
Holy Thursday
|
First Reading: Exodus 12: 1-8, 11-14
Psalms: Psalm 116: 12-13, 15-18
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26
Gospel Reading: John 13: 1-15
|
"Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If, therefore, I the Lord and Master have washed your feet, you also ought to wash the feet of one another. For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you also should do." John 13: 12-15
"Letter to the Priests" 2001
"Then there is also the fundamental problem of catechetical teaching about the moral conscience and about sin, so that people can have a clearer idea of the radical demands of the Gospel. Unfortunately, there exists a minimalist tendency which prevents the Sacrament from producing all the benefits that we might hope for. Many of the faithful have an idea of sin that is not based on the Gospel but on common convention, on what is socially 'acceptable.' This makes them feel not particularly responsible for things that 'everybody does,' and all the more so if these things are permitted by civil law."
That was the heart of Pope John Paul II's annual "Letter to the Priests" for today's Feast which he wrote on Laetare Sunday. In his letter, he calls on the priests universally to recommit to the Sacrament of Penance, to make it more readily available to their flocks. He also instructs them to avail themselves of it more often so they will be better prepared to perform this sacrament more worthily and more sensitively in recognizing the needs of the thirsty, and often confused souls. He also insists that the priests preach the "radical message of the Gospel" more clearly from the pulpit and the confessional so that the faithful will have a more acute moral conscience as to absolutes of right and wrong. He shares with the priests the august responsibility and privilege, the gift of being the ministers of this healing sacrament and to treat it with the utmost respect and reverence so that the "gift" of sanctifying grace will flow generously through the souls of the Mystical Body of Christ.
For his annual message in full, see THE VICAR OF CHRIST SPEAKS
O Salutaris et Tantum ergo
Today we offer the beautiful verses of the O Salutaris and Tantum ergo, two of the most beautiful Hymns in the Church and both composed by the Angelic Doctor Saint Thomas Aquinas. These are the prayers we sing at every Exposition and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament; something that is sadly not as common as it used to be because the True Presence of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity has become common to the common man - in other words, the Unique Essence of the True Presence has been lost today in the celebration of self. This cannot be! This must not be! All reverence and worship must be to the "Saving Victim" - "Salutaris Hostia" Who is "Veneremur cernui" - "this great Sacrament we hail." For these beautiful prayers that carry an Indulgence, see PRAYER & DEVOTION
   TENTH STATION OF THE CROSS
On Good Friday in 2000, the Holy Father led the Via Crucis meditations with his own words while leading the faithful on the traditional Papal Way of the Cross. His deep spirituality, renewed by a spontaneous visit to Mount Calvary within the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre during his "Jubilee Journey" to the Holy Land last year is an inspiration we want to share with our readers. Therefore we continue one Station of the Cross at a time leading up to Holy Saturday. It is important to drink in the meditative treasures of each one day at a time. Tomorrow, because it is Good Friday we will feature the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth. For the Tenth Station by His Holiness, see Papal Way of the Cross
Death of the holy Pope who established the Archives
On this day 1,649 years ago in 252, Pope Saint Julius I, the 35th successor of Peter, passed on to his Heavenly reward. His pontificate lasted fifteen years and was highlighted by the fact he decreed the Eastern churches conform with the Western churches in celebrating the Nativity on the 25th of December instead of January 6th and the Feast of Epiphany. He also established the Archives for the Church by decreeing that all official acts of the Apostolic See be preserved for posterity.
For other Time Capsule events that happened Today in Church history, see TIME CAPSULES
In looking for purpose, bored Intelligentsia clamor for freedom and find it not within but without where they can disavow individual responsibility.
"The third group who have been caught on the hooks of the devil's fishing line are Bored Intelligentsia. Their education should have given them a goal or a purpose of life. Having failed to do so, their knowledge is nothing but a crazy quilt of unrelated facts and undigested bits of information. The want of unity both in their moral life and their knowledge makes them desirous of unity, but not a unity from within which demands moral stamina, but a unity from without. Certain sects provide that for them. They no longer have to think; the sect does the thinking for them. They now have a mission, a sense of belonging to a totality, and one in which they are no longer bored by their freedom, having surrendered it to the collective ant hill of the sect."
 
NOTE: In deference to the Paschal Triduum, the regular FAITH IN THE FAMILY column by Joe and Jane Dalton and our APPRECIATION OF THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF OUR FAITH series will return in their normal rotation next Thursday.
Note: During Holy Week we have suspended the Daily News because we are also partly on retreat. We will resume our up-to-date News on Tuesday, April 17th issue with a new format that will bring you even more news. For this week, we recommend sources we rely on. For these news agencies, see News Sources
Monthly Medjugorje Message for March 2001
|
 
April 12, 2001 volume 12, no. 102
|
|