The Liturgy of Maundy Thursday traditionally is full of memories of the Redemption. Formerly the Mass for Maundy Thursday laid special stress on the institution of the Holy Eucharist and of the priesthood. It’s Mass carried out more than any other the command of Christ to His priests to renew the Last Supper, during which He instituted His immortal presence among us at the very moment His death was being plotted.
After the Mass the altar is stripped in order to show that the Holy Sacrifice is interrupted and will not be offered up again to God until Holy Saturday. The priest therefore consecrates more hosts, for on Good Friday the Church refrains from renewing on the altar the sacrifice of Calvary.
Hours of the Passion
Fourth Hour: From 8 to 9 PM
O my Sweet Heart, I see that after You (Jesus) have instituted the Most Holy Sacrament and have seen the enormous ingratitude and the offenses of the creatures at the excesses of Your Love, although wounded and embittered, You do not draw back; rather, You want to drown everything in the immensity of Your Love.
I see You, O Jesus, as You administer Yourself to Your apostles, and then You add that they too must do what You have done, giving them authority to consecrate; and so You ordain them priests and institute the other Sacraments. Thus You take care of everything, and You repair for everything: the sermons badly given, the Sacraments administered and received without disposition, and therefore without effects; the mistaken vocations of priests, on their part and on the part of those who ordain them, not using all means in order to discern the true vocations. Ah, nothing escapes You, O Jesus, and I intend to follow You and to repair for all these offenses.
Then, after You have given fulfillment to everything, You gather Your apostles and set out for the Garden of Gethsemane, to begin Your sorrowful Passion. I will follow You in everything, to keep You faithful company.
Fiat!
