Maundy Thursday a time dedicated to humility

Today is the Thursday which precedes Easter known in the liturgical books as the Thursday of the Lord‚s Supper. Its chief purpose is to commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist, which is solemnly reserved for communion on Good Friday.

There was a time when a ritual characteristic of the celebration was "the reconciliation of penitents" but this is no longer observed. Now it is commemorated with the ringing of the bells during Gloria in excelcis which the Bishop does during Mass in his cathedral. After the evening Mass, the altar is stripped, to commemorate the stripping of Jesus. In every church, the priest who presides follows the mandate (Latin Mandatum) given by our Lord and that is where the name Maundy Thursday originated from. It is the first word of the rite of Washing of Feet. It is a perfect example of Christ’s humility for Christ literally washed of his apostles. Humility has been defined as "that low sweet root, from which all heavenly virtues shoot." In religion as in the world, it is the highway to glory. It is the only road that can bring us to God. First, humility, then love is the inseparable essence of Christianity. "Should you ask me," St Augustine wrote, "What is the first thing in religion? I should reply, the first, second and third thing therein – nay, all – is humility. Maundy Thursday is the holy day that has been consecrated to humility.

Humility is a good criterion for judging the candidates, national and local, for these coming elections. How many of them believe that they are the answers to our political problems? How many have even an inkling of just what those problems are? They are the answers to the problems that they cannot pinpoint and define. We have a candidate for president who doesn’t even have a high school diploma and has not had any experience in public service, yet, he is fully convinced that he is the people’s answer to the problems of our nation. It is his admiration for himself, not his admiration for knowledge and virtue that gives him the feeling that he is greatly superior to others. It would do him a lot of good if he took time out this Maundy Thursday and, like Christ, washed the feet of some of his supporters.

There are many Holy Week practices that we like and associate with our youth. Aside from the ritual Washing of Feet, we always loved visita iglesia, the ritual of visiting seven different churches during Holy Week. We made it a practice to always pick seven new churches annually. They gave us an opportunity to visit new churches, meaning, the ones that did not exist when we were young.

The best preparation for the commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of Our Lord is the lesson we learn from the Washing of the Feet.