Maundy Thursday

April 9,2020

11:38am

“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, enkindle in them the fire of thy Divine Love, send forth your Spirit, and it shall be created, and thou shall renew the face of the earth.”

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Today is Maundy Thursday.

Checking my messages over at Whatsapp, Viber and FB Chat shows the different ways people and friends are dealing with this crisis while  Christians all over the world are trying to find creative ways to observe Lenten traditions and practices.

When I was much younger, the Triduum or these following 3 days were simply observed with  visiting 7 churches, going to church to seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation from the priest, observe the washing of the feet, listening to the 7 last words of Christ while trying not to misbehave and obey my dad's directive to keep quiet.

Later on, when my dad discovered the Divine Mercy chaplet, he encouraged us to start the novena on Good Friday every 3pm till the following Saturday.

Grudgingly I joined.

Fast forward to the very early morning of December 30,2015, dad slipped quietly into the next life while I was playing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy ( from Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5TGfisOKMM ) in the background.  It was so quiet and peaceful. My  2 brothers, my sis in law and I were spared the vision of the  agonizing last breath like in the case of my mom. It was painful to watch.

The first reading for today recalls the first Passover meal celebrated in Egypt by the wandering people of God.

Today, quiet eerily, a lot of households are similarly huddled inside homes, trying to quell their fears of the future, by trying to deal with the challenges of the moment.

The blood of the lamb on the doorposts of the believers shielded them from the passing of the angel of death..which was the last of the plagues sent to Egypt.

Again, past forward again to now, many observe these rituals mechanically, forgetting a lot of things , the most important of all is probably this:

We are nothing without God, Our Creator in our lives.

He is the author of our lives. When He decides to get back our life, are we ready? If He prolongs it and answers our prayers, will we remember His goodness and mercy?

Will we easily forget and go back to our old ways of not having Him as the center of our lives, to give Him proper reverence and honor.

Jesus came to show us the way.

Jesus came to show us the life He wants us to live, following Him as our very good Shepherd.

We are all blind as lambs, exposed to all sorts of  wolves around us, and yet, when we come into an intimate relationship with Him, we will know His voice and never falter and lose our way.

He is the truth. All else are lies fed to us by the devil and our flesh.

Thus, if He calls us to repent from our sins…let us humble ourselves and do so. 

Lord Jesus, we cry out to you to forgive us…have mercy on us for our many many sins….Grant us the grace to sin no more.

I adore and praise You O Lord Jesus Christ.

Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

St. Michael, the Archangel, Guardian Angels, pray for us.

St. Padre Pio, pray for us.