HOLY THURSDAY / MAUNDY THURSDAY



MASS READINGS (March 24, 2016):
(source: USCCB.org)
- First Reading = Ex 12:1-8, 11-14
- Responsorial Psalm = Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.
- Second Reading = 1 Cor 11:23-26
- Verse Before The Gospel = Jn 13:34
I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:
love one another as I have loved you.

- Gospel: Jn 13:1-15


ABOUT:
- also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries
- is the fifth day of Holy Week 
- The date is always between 19 March and 22 April inclusive, but these dates fall on different days depending on whether the Gregorian or Julian calendar is used liturgically. Eastern churches generally use the Julian calendar, and so celebrate this feast throughout the 21st century between 1 April and 5 May in the more commonly used Gregorian calendar. The liturgy held on the evening of Maundy Thursday initiates the Easter Triduum, the period which commemorates the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ; this period includes Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and ends on the evening of Easter. The Mass or service of worship is normally celebrated in the evening, when Friday begins according to Jewish tradition, as, according to the three Synoptic Gospels, the Last Supper was held on the feast of Passover; according to the Gospel of John, however, Jesus has his last supper on Nisan 14, the night before the first night of Passover. 


LINKS/ SOURCES:
-  "March 24, 2016 - HOLY THURSDAY - EVENING MASS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER" (source: USCCB)
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032416-lords-supper.cfm)
- "Maundy Thursday" (source: Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_Thursday)
- "Maundy Thursday" (source: Catholic Encyclopedia)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10068a.htm