WDTPRS Holy “Maundy” Thursday in the Triduum
Novus OrdoHoly Thursday — Mar 25, 2027, Apr 13, 2028
It might have a thin tendril reaching back into the ancient Veronese Sacramentary #96: Uere dignum: qui se ipsum tibi pro nobis offerens immolandum idem sacerdos et sacer agnus exhibuit.O God, we beg, grant to us attending the most holy Supper in which Your Only-begotten, about to hand Himself over to death, commended to Church a new sacrifice unto the ages and a banquet of His love, that we may from so great a mystery drink deeply the fullness of charity and life. The word haurio gives us the image of Christ’s bitter struggle on Thursday in the garden when faced with the chalice from which He would need to drink.
The term “Maunday” or “Maundy” Thursday refers to Christ’s mandate (mandatum) in John 13:34 to His apostles in the service of the Church. It is also called sometimes “Shere” Thursday, perhaps from “shere” indicating “tolerance” and “remedy”, in the sense of “wiggle room”. This “shere” was, according to the OED the difference or error permissible in a measure of something,…