Maundy Thursday

Holy Thursday—traditionally known as Maundy Thursday—commemorates the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood at the Last Supper, when Christ, on the night before His Passion, offered bread and wine as His Body and Blood and commanded His Apostles to “do this in memory of me,” thereby establishing the perpetual sacrifice of the Mass; in the same sacred context, He gave the new commandment (mandatum) of charity, exemplified in the washing of the disciples’ feet, revealing that true authority in the Church is inseparable from sacrificial service, while the liturgy itself—especially in the traditional Roman Rite—moves from the solemn joy of the Gloria, after which the bells fall silent, into the stark gravity of the Passion, culminating in the stripping of the altar and the translation of the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose, inviting the faithful to keep watch with Christ in His agony in the garden as the Church enters into the mystery of His redemptive suffering.