Holy Triduum begins with the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday (Video/ photos)
Holy Thursday was celebrated at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark with the traditional washing of the feet and placement of the Eucharist to the altar of repose as the faithful enter the first day of the Triduum.
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark, celebrated the bilingual Holy Thursday liturgy on March 28.
Holy Thursday, also known as Maundy Thursday, is the first day of the Triduum, the three days that trace the final days of Jesus’ life, his death, and his resurrection from the dead. Holy Thursday is when the Lord’s Supper is celebrated. It is when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and established the sacrament of Holy Communion.
The crucifix, which hangs at the Cathedral’s altar, was covered in a purple cloth in preparation for the 3 p.m. Good Friday service, reflecting on the suffering of Christ and his dying on the cross for our sins. At the end of the Holy Thursday Mass, the consecrated Eucharist is placed on the Altar of Repose rather than the Tabernacle so that the focus is on the cross, not the Eucharist.
The First Reading was from Exodus 12 explaining the importance of the rituals of Passover, which helped prepare the Israelites for the Messiah’s coming and giving the faithful a spiritual death.
The second reading was Corinthians 11, a letter from Saint Paul discussing the Eucharist.
The Gospel reading was from John 13, which conveys the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet and giving them a final commandment.
During the Gospel of John, Jesus takes a towel, ties it around his waist, and with a basin full of water begins to wash the disciples’ feet.
When Simon Peter balks at His master washing his feet, Jesus answers him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
During his homily, Cardinal Tobin said, “Maybe Peter speaks for us all when he says ‘Lord, you will never wash my feet. Stop it!’ There is something scandalously intimate about foot washing.
“Then he tells Peter and the disciples, and us, to go and do likewise. That’s a tall order,” Cardinal Tobin said.
Why do we memorialize the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday?
“Because our entire relation of human beings to God is to receive love and to give back love no matter what the cost,” Cardinal Tobin said.
Cardinal Tobin then put on an apron, bent down, and washed the right foot of a dozen parishioners. Kneeling, Cardinal Tobin poured water, rubbed their feet, and dried them with a white towel.
“When we listen to [Jesus’] story, to the extent we will receive it, our hearts will be stilled because we will be emptied as he was emptied and his followers have always been emptied in order to be filled with the fullness of God,” Cardinal Tobin said.
The Mass concluded with a procession. Cardinal Tobin carried the consecrated hosts circling behind the main altar to the Lady Chapel where the Eucharists were transferred to the Altar of Repose.
