Tomorrow the 40 days of Lent will end. Three parishioners of St. This is the result. Jesus and his apostles celebrated the Passover, when God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. A cup of wine becomes his blood. But on Holy Thursday it rings out, bells accompanying, prepping us for our first Bible reading, the happy story of that first Passover meal. In the Gospel, instead of hearing about bread and wine, body and blood, we get a lesson on putting this mystery into practice.
The Holy Thursday service continues like any Mass, but it stops without a real ending. Everybody kneels as the Blessed Sacrament is carried to the Altar of Repose. The Easter Triduum Liturgy continues tomorrow. Good Friday continues the service begun the previous evening. By tradition it occurs during the three hours when Jesus was hanging on the cross.
It is a Communion service, not a Mass, the only day in the year on which Catholics do not celebrate a Mass.
We enter a silent church and see a bare altar. Purple cloths cover statues and crucifixes. The Tabernacle Light is extinguished. It is a time of mourning and prayer, which the priest begins by prostrating himself before the altar, a reminder of Jesus in Gethsemane. Then the service goes straight to the Liturgy of the Word. As Holy Thursday had no real ending, this service has no real beginning. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace.
The first time was on Palm Sunday. We all participate by reciting lines spoken by more than one person. It feels like being there. The Prayers of the Faithful that follow are more elaborate than usual. Traditionally, each prayer includes a call to kneel and then stand — for those who are able.
