Understanding the Holy Thursday rituals

Holy Thursday is the start of the Easter Triduum. On this particular day two events are made by the Catholic Church.

Most of you will be wondering why the early mass are not celebrated on some parishes, that is because the Chrismal Mass is celebrated by the bishop or archbishop of the diocese. In this mass celebration the chrism or holy oil are blessed by the bishop. This chrism or holy oil is only blessed once a year and only the bishop has the power to do so. This are the very same oil use to anoint the sick, the newly ordained priest, newly confirmed Catholics, and other rituals of the church needing such anointing. In this celebration two sacraments are actually remembered. One is the sacrament of the anointing of the sick and the other is the sacrament of ordination.

If married people renew their marriage vows, every priest also renew their vows on this day. It is a commemoration of what they have promised as a priest that they will maintained to be chase, poor, and obedient to what the Catholic Church is teaching. It is a con-celebrated mass and the nice part of it is when all priest extend their hand to consecrate the body and blood of Christ, you can feel the sanctity and presence of the Lord.

On the afternoon we celebrate the Lord's Last supper. This too commemorates one of the sacrament which is the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is in this celebration that we are also reminded of what happened when Jesus was handed to the Pharisees and eventually led to His crucifixion. We commemorate the sacrifice of our own God for us humans. It teaches us the unconditional love of our Lord for us that He has sacrifice Himself for us in the most shameful way of death, that is to be crucified in a cross.