SAINT FEAST DAY FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR

 THE LAST SUPPER  ➡️ The Washing of the Feet THIS WAS NOT SIMPLY AN ORDINARY PASSOVER MEAL It was at such a Passover meal that Jesus ate with His Apostles for the last time before His death. Yet it was not simply an ordinary Paschal meal, for Jesus was soon to die for men and this last Passover of Jesus on earth was also the beginning of a new sacrifice which would replace the old Passover. THE DEATH OF JESUS WILL INSTITUTE THE KINGDOM OF GOD Jesus began the Passover by saying to the Apostles, ‘I have greatly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you that I will eat of it no more, until it has been fulfilled in the kingdom of God’ (Luke 22:15-16). Jesus alludes to His own coming suffering and death. The old Paschal sacrifice of a lamb heralded the deliverance of the Chosen People from slavery and death. The passion and death of Jesus will deliver the human race from the slavery of sin and eternal death. The death of Jesus will institute the Kingdo...

  PRAYER FOR HOLY THURSDAY (MAUNDY THURSDAY): PRAYER TO APPRECIATE THE MASS O Lord Jesus, in order that the merits of Your sacrifice on the Cross might be applied to every soul of all time, You willed that it should be renewed upon the altar. At the Last Supper , You said: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” By these words You gave Your Apostles and their successors the power to consecrate and the command to do what You Yourself did. I believe that the Mass is both a sacrifice and a memorial – reenacting Your Passion, Death and Resurrection. Help me to realize that the Mass is the greatest gift of God to us and our greatest gift to God. At every Mass I attend grant me the grace to participate fully, actively and consciously so as to give the greatest glory to God and achieve the highest benefits for myself, my relatives, friends and benefactors as well as all humankind. Amen. ➡️ Maundy Thursday   ➡️ What happens during Holy Week?

  MAUNDY THURSDAY, GOSPEL READING (JOHN 13:1-15) It was before the feast of the Passover. Jesus realised that his hour had come, to pass from this world to the Father; and as he had loved those who were his own in the world, he would love them with perfect love. They were at supper , and the devil had already put into the mind of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had entrusted all things to him, and as he had come from God, he was going to God. So he got up from the table, removed his garment, and taking a towel, wrapped it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. When he came to Simon Peter, Simon asked him, “Why, Lord, do you want to wash my feet?” Jesus said, “What I am doing you cannot understand now, but afterwards you will understand it.” Peter replied, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you can have n...

  GOOD FRIDAY – THE CHURCH MOURNS BECAUSE HER LORD IS DEAD A DAY DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER DAY There is surely no other moment in the year when the Church succeeds in producing the right impression so perfectly as she does in the service of Good Friday. The very strangeness of the rites, utterly unlike any others, gives us at once the feeling that this is a day different from any other day. A SENSE OF DESOLATION, OF MOURNING That little procession coming to the altar in dead silence, the prostration before the altar, then the lessons, the series of collects with their strange chant, all this produces a sense of desolation, of mourning, such as no other service in the year approaches. Today the most ignorant observer who enters a Catholic church can see that the Church mourns because her Lord is dead. THE ASSOCIATION OF LONG CENTURIES Then comes the worship of the cross, so full of meaning today, and the one gleam of light in the dark service, as we bring the Sanctissimum back to the...

  GOOD FRIDAY, GOSPEL READING (JOHN 18:1-19:42) THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO JOHN  When Jesus had finished speaking, he went with his disciples to the other side of the Kidron Valley. There was a garden there. Jesus entered with his disciples. Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, since Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas took soldiers and some servants from the chief priests and Pharisees, and they went to the garden with lanterns, torches and weapons. Jesus knew all that was going to happen to him; he stepped forward and asked, “Who are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus said, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, stood there with them. When Jesus said, “I am he,” they moved back and fell to the ground. He then asked a second time, “Who are you looking for?” and they answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus replied, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, let these others go.” So what Jesus had ...

  HOLY SATURDAY What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. (From a reading from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday) By the expression “He descended into hell”, the  Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil “who has the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14) [CCC 636]. In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him (CCC 637). (🎨 After  his death on the cross and before his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ grants salvation to the souls of the just who lived during all those centuries prior to His entry into Time by ...

  BEAUTIFUL SHORT EASTER PRAYER BY ST GREGORY THE GREAT It is only right, with all the powers of our heart and mind, to praise You, Father and Your Only-begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ: Dear Father, by Your wondrous Condescension of loving-kindness towards us, Your servants, You gave up Your Son. Dear Jesus, You paid the debt of Adam for us to the Eternal Father by Your Blood poured forth in loving-kindness. You cleared away the darkness of sin by Your magnificent and radiant Resurrection. You broke the bonds of death and rose from the grave as a Conqueror. You reconciled heaven and earth. Our life had no hope of eternal happiness before You redeemed us. Your Resurrection has washed away our sins, restored our innocence and brought us joy. How inestimable is the tenderness of Your love! Amen.