With the Holy Thursday The ends the Lentwhich began on ashes, and with it also ends the prison fasting.
With the Vespertin Mass in Coena Domini “(” in the Lord’s dinner “) begins the Easter Triduumthat is, the three days in which the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesuswhich has its fulcrum in the solemn Easter Vigil And it ends with the second Vespers on Easter Sunday.
From a liturgical point of view, the Triduo is a single celebration. Indeed:
-night “In Coena Domini” There is no leave, but the assembly melts in silence;
-The Good Friday The celebration begins in silence, without rites of introduction, and ends without blessing and without leave, in silence;
-there Easter Vigil Start with the skylight, without a sign of the cross and without greeting; Only at the end of the vigil is the final blessing and leave.
Holy Thursday 2018, Pope Francis celebrates the Criscus Mass in the Basilica of San Pietro (Reuters)
The morning mass of the chrism
Holy Thursday is reserved for two distinct liturgical celebrations, in the morning in the cathedrals, the bishop with a solemn ceremony consecrates the sacred chrismathat is, the blessed oil to be used throughout the following year for the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Sacred Order and the other three oils used for the Baptism, anointing of the sick and to grease the catechumens. The priests and deacons participate in this ceremony, who gather around their bishop, as a visible confirmation of the Church and the priesthood founded by Christ; As ahead of participating in the individual churches and parishes, with his own liturgy, in the celebration of the last stages of the life of Jesus with the passion, death and resurrection.
The vespertina mass in Coena Domini “
In the late afternoon or in the evening in all churches there is the celebration of the “Coena Domini” Mass, that is, the “Lord’s dinner”. This is the Last Supper – depicted by entire generations of artists – which Jesus held together with his apostles before arrest and death sentence.
All four gospels report that Jesus approaching the party “Of the Azzimi”that is, the Jewish Easter sent some disciples to prepare the table for the dinner ritual, in the house of their followers.
Easter is the most solemn Jewish festival and is celebrated with a precise ritual, which recalls the wonders made by God in the liberation of the Jews by Egyptian slavery (Exodus 12); and its celebration lasts from 14 to 21 of the month of Nisan (March-April).
On that night it is consumed the lamb, Previously slaughtered, during a meal (the Easter dinner) of which every gesture is established; In this period it is allowed to eat only bread without yeast (in Greek, “Azymos”), from which the term “zero”. Jesus with the apostles did not eat only according to the traditions, but for the last time the master had with him all the twelve disciples chosen by him and made them a speech where they intertwine fled, promise and consecration.
Holy Thursday 2018, Pope Francis washes his feet to some prisoners of the Roman prison of Regina Coeli (Reuters)
Lavender of the feet symbol of hospitality
John’s Gospel, in chapter 13, tells the episode of the lavender of the feet (in the photo above, the work of the Tintoretto, The lavender of the feet1548 – 1549, oil on canvas, Madrid, Prado Museum).
Jesus, writes the evangelist, “having loved his who were in the world, loved them up to the end”, and while the devil had already put in the heart of Judah Iscariot, the purpose of betraying him, Jesus got up from the table, gave his clothes and taken a dryer if he surrounded him around the life, poured water into the basin and with an unheard of gesture, because he was reserved for the slaves and the servants. Apostles, then drying them with the dryer he was surrounded by.
It must be emphasized that at that time we walking on foot on dusty and muddy roads, perhaps dirty with animal excrements, which made their feet, shouted by only sandals, in conditions imaginable at the end of the day. The lavender of the feet was a characteristic of hospitality in the ancient world, it was a duty of the slave towards the master, of his wife towards her husband, of the son towards the father and was carried out with a special basin and with a “lention” (dryer) which in the end had become a kind of uniform of those who served at the table.
When it was Simon Pietro’s turn, he opposed the gesture of Jesus: “Lord you whisk your feet to me?” And Jesus replied: “What I do, you don’t understand it now, but you will understand it after”; Then Pietro who did not understand the symbolism and the example of this act, insisted: “You will never tear my feet”. Then Jesus replied again: “If I do not work you, you will not be part with me” and then Peter with his usual impulsiveness replied: “Lord, not only his feet, but also his hands and head!”. This lavender is one of the greatest lessons that Jesus gives to his disciples, because they will have to follow him on the way of total generosity in giving himself, not only towards the usual figures, up to then pre -eminent of the master, husband, father, but also towards all the brothers in humanity, even if considered lower towards him.
Giotto, the kiss of Judas, Chapel of the Scrovegni, Padua, 1303
The announcement of the betrayal by Judah
After the lavender Jesus drew and returned to sit among the twelve apostles and established with them a high suggestion interview, mentioning several times to the betrayal that will take place by one of them, bringing down a veil of sadness and disbelief in that co -life ritual. “In truth, in truth I tell you: one of you will betray me”says Jesus. Words to which the apostles react dismayed and in various shades they ask him who he was, John himself the favorite disciple, leaning with his head on his chest, in a gesture of confidence, asked: “Lord, who is it?”. And he replied Jesus, he replied: “He is the one for whom I will understand a bite and give it to him” and dipped a mouthful Judah Iscariotatelling him: “What you need to do, do it as soon as possible”; Among the amazement of those present who continued not to understand, while Judas, having taken the bite, got up, and went out in the darkness of the night.
The reposition of the Eucharist and the beginning of the passion
The liturgical rites of Holy Thursday, the day on which the church celebrates beyond theInstitution of the Eucharistalso that of the sacred order, that is, of the Christian priesthood, end after the dinner with the reposition of the Eucharist in a lateral chapel of the churches, decorated to celebrate to remember the establishment of the sacrament; Chapel that will be a destination for devotion and adoration, for the remaining evening and throughout the day after, until the rites of the afternoon of Good Friday start.
The rest of the temple is obscuredas a sign of pain because the passion of Jesus began; The bells silenced, the altar becomes unadorned, the empty tabernacle with the open door, the covered crucifixes.
