Do This is Memory of Me: Do What?
Holy Thursday includes two important celebrations. The Chrism Mass where all the priests renew their priestly vows, and the bishop blesses the holy oils. It commemorates the Lord’s institution of the priesthood. That's in the morning. But tonight is the commemoration of the commandment of charity, the mandatum novum, and the institution of the Eucharist, where he ask to do this in memory of me. The power of a memory that can actually bring him back alive. Thumbnail: Pope Francis washing the feet of inmates at a juvenile detention in the outskirts of Rome, 2023. Music: Ave Verum Corpus natrium William Byrd, 17th century.