THE MAUNDY THURSDAY MASS OF THE LAST SUPPER THE WASHING OF THE FEET

 THE MAUNDY THURSDAY MASS OF THE LAST SUPPER

THE WASHING OF THE FEET

Leonardo da Vinci, "The Last Supper" at the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Milan.

Maundy Thursday is so called because of the ceremony of the washing of the feet – which ordinarily takes place after the Homily.

The word “Maundy” comes from the directive of Our Lord, set out in the Gospel of St John (13,34), “to love one another as I have loved you” - “Mandatum”, a command. The love we are commanded to bear, to love as Christ loved us, is pointed out by St Paul as a love “even unto death on the Cross” – a selfless abandonment to the love of God and for each other. The Mandatum, the commandment, extends to His loving humility, exemplified by Our Lord in His act of washing the feet of His disciples, the Master in an act of complete servility to the disciples, His students.

The symbolism of the washing of the feet is also redolent of the nature of the priestly vocation – one of complete service. Father Weiser tells us that “[f]rom ancient times, all religious superiors, bishops, abbots and prelates performed the Maundy; so did the Pope at all times. As early as 694 AD, the Synod of Toledo prescribed the rite. Religious superiors of monasteries washed the feet of those subject to them, while the popes and bishops performed the ceremony on a number of clergy or laymen, (usually 12). In medieval times, the Christian emperors, lords and kings washed the feet of the old and poor and afterwards served at a meal and provide alms.”(1)

The Celebrant girds himself with a cloth and, assisted by his Ministers, washes the feet of twelve laypeople chosen for the ceremony. While the Subdeacon holds the foot, the Celebrant, kneeling before him, washes the foot and wipes it, the Deacon handing him a towel for the wiping, while the following chants are sung by the choir:

Antiphon (John 13.34):

Mandatum novum do vobis: ut diligatis invicem, sicut dilexi vos, dicit Dominus.

A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another as I have loved you, saith the Lord.

Antiphon (John 13.4,5,15):

After Our Lord was risen from supper, He put water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of His disciples; to whom He gave this example.

Antiphon (John 13.12,13,15):

Our Lord Jesus, after He had supped with His disciples, washed their feet and said to them: Know you what I your Lord and Master have done to you? I have given you an example that ye may also do likewise.

Antiphon (John 13.6-8):

Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him: If I shall not wash thy feet, thou shalt have no part of Me.

V. He came therefore to Simon Peter, and Peter said to Him:

R. Lord, dost Thou….

Antiphon (John 13.14):

If I your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, how much more ought you to wash one another’s feet?

Ps. 48.2, Hear these things, all ye nations: give ear, ye that inhabit the world,-

Antiphon (John 13.35):

By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Said Jesus to His disciples.

Antiphon (1 Cor. 13.13):

Let these three, faith, hope and charity remain in you; but the greatest of these is charity. And now there remain faith, hope and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.-

Antiphon (John 2,3,4):

Where charity and love are, there is God.

V. The love of Christ has gathered us together. Let us rejoice in Him and be glad. Let us fear and love the living God. And let us love one another with a sincere heart.

R. Where charity…

V. When, therefore, we are assembled together. Let us take heed that we be not divided in mind. Let malicious quarrels and contentions cease. And let Christ our God dwell among us.

R. Where charity…

V. Let us also with the blessed see: Thy face in glory, O Christ our God. There to possess immeasurable and happy joy. For infinite ages of ages. Amen.

Father Weiser also tells us that Maundy Thursday was traditionally the day of cleaning, washing and bathing in preparation for Easter – a custom mentioned by St Augustine in 430AD. Evidently, because of the exertions and thoroughness of the cleansing in an age when bathing was not an every day affair, the faithful were exempted from fasting on Maundy Thursday. (2)

For the Mass, the Altar is decorated, crucifix and tabernacle are veiled in white and the priests wear rich vestments of white, the liturgical colour of joy. At the beginning of the Mass, the organ accompanies the choir, and through the Gloria a jubilant ringing of bells proclaims the festive memory of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament. After the Gloria the bells fall silent and are replaced with a wooden clapper and not heard again until the Gloria of the Easter Vigil is intoned on Holy Saturday.

Only one priest celebrates Mass on Maundy Thursday – the other priests and lay people receive communion from his hand, thus representing more vividly the scene of Our Lord’s Supper.

After Mass, the Blessed Sacrament is carried in solemn procession to a side altar, the Altar of Repose, where the Our Lord is kept until Good Friday morning. Throughout the night, groups of faithful, priests and lay people keep watch in honour of the agony of Christ. (3)

Father Weiser observes that the custom in the Latin countries of Europe and America is for the lay people to dress in black on this evening and to visit seven of the altars of repose, saying the Rosary on their way from church to church. (4)

After the Mass and the procession on Holy Thursday, the altars are stripped in a ceremony of deep significance. Priests robed in purple vestments remove the altar linen, decorations, candles and veils from every altar except the repository shrine – the Altar of Repose. Robbed of their vesture, the bare altars now represent the body of Christ, who was stripped of His garments. In medieval times the altars used to be washed with blessed water and wine, the priests using bundles of birch twigs or palms to cleanse and dry them. (5)

The universal children’s story is that ‘the bells have flown away to Rome” – in France, children are told that the bells fly to Rome to fetch the Easter eggs that they will drop into every house on their return.

After Grace at meals and in lieu of the Gloria in the Rosary, is said, over the Passiontide period:

R. Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem.

V. Mortem autem crucis.

[R. Christ was obedient for our sakes unto death.

V. Death on the Cross.]

(1) Francis X Weiser, “The Easter Book”, St Augustine Academy Press, 1954/2018, at pp. 104.

(2) Ibid., at pp. 106-108.

(3) Ibid., at p. 108.

(4) Ibid., at p. 109.

(5) Ibid., at pp. 109-110.