The Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be celebrated at 4:30 PM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching.
Throughout the Church, Mass of the Lord’s Supper replaces the Office of Vespers; on Holy Thursdays, communion may be received only in the context of the Bishop’s Chrism Mass in the morning or the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the evening, the exception being the viaticum for the dying. With this Mass, the Sacred Triduum–the three days–commemorating the mystery of our salvation, the Lord’s passage to the Resurrection through his Pasion, begins.
After the Gospel, Abbot Robert, assisted by Br. Efrain and members of the monastic community and in-house retreatants, will celebrate the Mandatum. “Mandatum” is Latin for what his ordered or commanded and refers to Jesus command to the Apostles at the Last Supper to do as he did: I have washed your feet; you must wash one another’s feet. After Communion, the Blessed Sacrament will be transferred to the Altar of Repose.
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