Holy Thursday

“ That is why born are included under Thursday. Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament generally unite prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with devotions in honor of the sublime Mystery of the altar. Friday is given to the Sacred Heart as well as to the Passion, but the prayers for Sacred Heart devotions will be found, as we have said, under Thursday. ↑ During this novena no particular form of prayer is of obligation. Any prayer to the Holy Ghost will suffice. ”

“ Holy Saturday is when water used in baptism is blessed; and Easter Sunday, the greatest of all the holy days except Christmas, is in honor of the resurrection of the Saviour. On Holy Thursday, in Madrid, the late queen used to wash the feet of a dozen beggars, as Christ washed the feet of his disciples. ”

“ It showed that men have confused the order of time, so as to profane with secular work the day originally set apart for rest; that Thursday is the seventh day, the true Sabbath, to be kept forever holy in the name of God. ”

“ We should like to penetrate into those remaining six months, which Mary and Joseph spent together, before the birth of the Holy Child. Scripture is silent about them, but it is not difficult for a sanctified imagination to picture something of what was taking place. Perhaps the thought of the Altar of Repose on Maundy Thursday will bring the realities home to us better than anything else could. Though He is hidden from our sight, all know that He is there. Angels are in constant adoration, and the faithful do not forget Him. All try to get near and to hold silent communion with Him ”

“ Holy Week is a vexation to most people. All the world crowds here to see its exhibitions and theatrical shows, and works hard to catch a glimpse of them, and is tired out, if not disgusted, at the end. The things to see and hear are Palm Sunday in St. Peter's; singing of the Miserere by the pope's choir on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in the Sistine Chapel; washing of the pilgrims' feet in a chapel of St. Peter's, and serving the apostles at table by the pope on Thursday, with a papal benediction from the balcony afterwards; Easter Sunday, with the illumination of St. ”

“ It was brought to her mind by degrees with every detail in the daily services, culminating on Good Friday, with mournful chants, the broken, mutilated Mass of the prophecies, and the slow unveiling of the crucifix.
These ceremonies of Holy Week, together with the fervent words of the missionaries who, like the first preachers of Christianity, spoke to the people in their "own tongues the wonderful works of God," made a profound impression on all the Indians of the Praying Castle. As the bells of Holy Saturday rang in the news of the resurrection, their joy broke forth into song. ”

“ Saturday, moreover, is the day between Friday, the day of mourning, and Sunday, the day of joy—and the Holy Virgin is the mediatrix between God, Who is Eternal Beatitude, and man, who is subject to endless evils and miseries. Mary is the way to arrive at Jesus, and Saturday is a prelude to the solemnity of Sunday. Saturday is as a magnificent portal consecrated to the Mother of God, by which we enter the Sanctuary of God Himself. The Saints held this day in great esteem—on it they redoubled their pious exercises—and many begged, as a signal favour, that they might die on a Saturday. ”

“ The following is Justin's account of their worship on the Lord's day: "In all our oblations we bless the Creator of all things, through his Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit. And upon the day called Sunday, there is an assembly of all who dwell in the several cities or in the country, in one place where the records of the apostles, or the writings of the prophets are read, as time allows. ”

“ Now send the reapers forth the next morning after the Sabbath, what day is that? why, it is Sunday in the morning; so we see in the anti-type the morning of the resurrection instead of being a holy day (and as the world will have it the Sabbath) it was the day for the laborers to go out into the fields to reap the spring harvest. ”

“ It is remarkable, my dear brethren, that the Catholic Church has selected for the four Sundays of Advent those passages of the Gospels which relate to the coming of the Lord, or to preparing the way for His coming, as is the case with the last three Sundays of this holy season. What is the reason of that? To exhort us to prepare our hearts spiritually for the coming of the new-born Saviour, and what is still more important, to keep our souls in readiness when our Judge shall come to call us out of this world. ”

“ Christmas is one of the great days of obligation in the Church year, then as at Easter if at no other time, Christians should gather around the table of the Lord, kneeling before God’s altar in the ministering of that Holy Communion which unites them with the past, the present, and the future—the communion of the saints of God’s Holy Church with His Beloved Son. ”

“ Allusion is made to Sunday under the character of a festival, as a symbol of a new life, consecrated to the Lord in opposition to the old Sabbath, in the epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians: “If they who were brought up under the Old Testament have attained to a new hope, and no longer keep [Jewish] Sabbaths holy, but have consecrated their life to the day of the Lord, on which also our life rose up in him, how shall we be able to live without him?” ”

“ The Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, however, need not be embarrassed by the arguments of Adventists, since the Church of Christ in this last dispensation has the warrant of God's word, by direct revelation, for keeping holy the Lord's day, that is, the first day of the week, as a day Of public worship and thanksgiving, a holy Sabbath unto the Lord. ”

“ The infinite love of God the Father, Who, according to His promise, sent His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem mankind. This holy season begins with the first Sunday in Advent, and ends with the sixth Sunday after Epiphany.
What does the Church commemorate at Easter?
The infinite love of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who, by His life, His works, His passion, death, and resurrection, accomplished our redemption, and then ascended into heaven there to be our mediator. This holy season begins with Septuagesima Sunday, and ends at the vigil of Pentecost. ”

“ No men or body of men could appoint a day for public worship, without usurping in Christ’s kingdom, to be weekly observed as a Sabbath.—No human appointments or inventions are admissible in the Christian dispensation—and the Christian Sabbath has been one of the principal means of preserving, in the world, to this day our holy religion.—These are the reasons why all Christians are to observe, as holy time, the first day of the week. ”

“ The Lord's Day is the day of the Sabbath; and the Sabbath, in the Ancient Churches, which were representative, was a most holy day of worship, by reason that it signified the union of the Divine and Human in the Lord, and hence, also, the conjunction of his Divine Humanity with heaven. But after the Lord united his Divine with his Human, then that holy representative ceased, and that day was made a day of instruction. ”

“ That the Lord’s day is the Bible Sabbath, admits of clear and certain proof. The argument stands thus: When God gave to man six days of the week for labor, he did expressly reserve unto himself the seventh, on which he placed his blessing in memory of his own act of resting upon that day, and thenceforward, through the Bible, has ever claimed it as his holy day. ”

“ The voluntary observance of memorable days. In the Christian church, almost from the beginning, men voluntarily honored the fourth, the sixth, and the first days of the week, and also the anniversary of the Passover and the Pentecost, to commemorate the betrayal, the death, and the resurrection, of Christ, and the descent of the Holy Spirit, which acts in themselves could not be counted sinful. ”

“ I remarked in the last chapter, that anciently mass was not said either on good-friday, or holy-saturday, and I quoted Pope Innocent I, who assigns as a reason the example of the Apostles, who spent those days in mourning for their Master. It was formerly customary to celebrate mass on the night of Easter-eve or holy Saturday. ”

“ Jesus never sanctioned the observance of the first day of the week as a holy day. No text can be cited from the Old Testament, [Pg 87] or the four Gospels, that gives even color of authority to this observance. Sunday is a purely human institution, established by the Christians of the first five centuries, to suit their own convenience, or satisfy their anti-Jewish prejudices. As a Biblical festival, it is no more sacred than Monday or Tuesday, or any other day. ”

“ If the bible argument, and testimony from history are to be relied on as evidence, then it is as clear as a sunbeam that the seventh day Sabbath is a perpetual sign, and is as binding upon man as it ever was. But we are told we must keep the first day of the week for the Sabbath as an ordinance to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus. ”

“ We Christians have a holy-day. We celebrate as our holy-day the first day in week, Sunday. We do not do this because God has commanded us to keep this day or any other day holy, more sacred than the rest of the week. ”

“ Wednesday is to be fasted, because then the Jews conspired to betray Jesus; Friday, because he then suffered for us. We keep the Lord’s Day as a day of joy, because then our Lord rose. Our tradition is, not to kneel on that day. ”

“ It is the most solemn and binding of all Fridays and should be observed as an absolute Fast in token of our sorrow for sin, and in preparation for the Easter Communion. All unnecessary work, all social engagements and pleasures are especially to be avoided by all those who reverence their Lord, and remember of what Good Friday is the solemn memorial. It is a day of Church-going, and it will be found that the Good Friday services are very {125} impressive, solemn and soul-stirring. The Proper Psalms are the 22d, 40th and 54th in Morning Prayer, and the 69th and 88th for Evening Prayer. ”

“ To understand the services of Holy Saturday it is necessary to recall the fact that for nearly a thousand years the discipline of the Latin Church forbade the offering of the sacrifice of the Mass on Holy Saturday as well as on Good Friday, in remembrance of the time when the body of Our Lord lay lifeless in the tomb. ”

“ Shrove Tuesday is the very last day, allowed by our Holy Mother the Church for revelry, before the long austere forty days of Lent, and if we do not make use of her full permission to enjoy ourselves, to the full extent of out capacity, we shall have nothing left to atone for to-morrow, when the good fathers place the cross of ashes on our foreheads, and bid us remember that dust we are, to dust return. ”

“ To-day, we will say, is Sunday, God's holy day! To-day, of all days in the week, God has chosen to be set apart for His worship. He has given you time to be so employed. He has given you an open church to go to. He has given you health and power to go, and yet perhaps you reject all, and never go at all. Don't you see that you have taken of things of God, that you have taken His gift of health, and His gift of Sunday rest--things given that they might be spent in His service, and in worshipping Him in His church. ”

“ And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.” [168]
The third in order of the annual sabbaths was the day of Pentecost. ”

“ This festival, which occurs on the 14th of September, celebrates the restoration of the Holy Cross of Calvary to Jerusalem in the year 628. All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1st) , is the day dedicated to those whose sanctification during life merited [172] their canonization by the Church after death; while All Souls’ Day (Nov. 2nd) is the day set apart for special prayers, having for their object the liberation of the suffering souls in Purgatory. The older designation of the first-named was Allhallowes Day, in accordance with the Anglo-Saxon word haligan, holy. ”

“ This would have furnished a golden opportunity to the Redeemer to change the day in the presence of all His apostles, but we state the simple fact that, on this occasion, as on Easter day, not a word is said of prayer, praise, or reading of the Scriptures. The third instance on record, wherein the apostles were assembled on Sunday, is to be found in Acts, 2d chapter, 1st verse: "The apostles were all of one accord in one place." (Feast of Pentecost — Sunday.) ”

“ The Sabbath on earth is a type of the Sabbath above. If we find no delight in the holy duties of the day, as now enjoyed, and feel the sacrifice of sanctifying it to be too great, how can we hope to enjoy it in the purity and holiness of heaven? ”

“ I therefore recommend that Thursday, the 26th day of November next, be set apart and observed by all the people of the United States as a day for public praise, thanksgiving, and prayer to the Almighty Creator and Divine Ruler of the Universe, by whose ever-watchful, merciful, and gracious providence alone states and nations, no less than families and individual men, do live and move and have their being. ”

“ But there are certain times, when this duty can be performed with more profit, and in a manner more comforting to ourselves, than at others. Above all seasons, the Sabbath is appropriate for communion with God. And he who most frequently and devoutly converses with Jehovah on his mercy-seat, through Jesus Christ, on the Lord's day, will commune most with him during the week, will most profitably observe the Sabbath, and be most thoroughly furnished for every good word and work. ”