Holy Thursday is probably the most eventful day of the Easter Triduum, with the most diverse feelings experienced by the faithful.
It started this year at 8 a.m. at the Holy Sepulchre Church. Patriarch Mgr. Fouad Twal was there with around 150 priests, who participated in the Blessing of the Holy Oils and, along with Mgr. Twal, renewed their priestly vows. During the celebration, which lasted about four hours, the liturgy was at the height of its splendor. The celebration ended with a solemn procession, at the end of which the Blessed Sacrament was exposed upon the altar at the very stone of the Holy Sepulchre.
As soon as the celebration was over, some of the faithful still inside were locked in – some of them were tourists who didn’t heed the warning that had been given to me. The doors weren’t unlocked until around 3 p.m.; it was the custodial vicar who brought the key to the building, in accordance with the Status Quo arrangement, which requires that the key be handed over to the Franciscans for an hour (see “Holy Thursdays: Holy Sepulchre Doors Locked” under “More” on the right).
No sooner were the doors unlocked than they were locked again for a Eucharistic Adoration led by the Franciscans before the Tomb, a true Tabernacle of His Presence.
Meanwhile, a number of other Franciscans, along with a great throng, were praying in the Upper Room, which looked different this year, having been repainted and renovated with the support of the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of the Interior in preparation for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.
In the Upper Room twelve children from the parish of the Custody of the Holy Land had their feet washed during the traditional pilgrimage of the friars.
This act was repeated by the Custos upon his return before a parish gathering at the Saint Saviour Parish Church.
In the evening, representatives of all ecclesiastical bodies in the Holy Land gathered together in the Church of All Nations, near the Garden of Olives, for a prayer vigil.
The Church of All Nations, which is the largest church in Jerusalem, was overcrowded despite its spaciousness. Those who could not go in could follow the celebration outside through a PA system. Others waited reverently for the procession of torches, in which hundreds if not thousands walked to the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu.
Some of them stayed there in prayer and in silence – the most valorous among them until the rooster crowed the next morning – while others stood in silence in the Church of Gethsemane.
Mab
Homily Holy Thursday 2009
It started this year at 8 a.m. at the Holy Sepulchre Church. Patriarch Mgr. Fouad Twal was there with around 150 priests, who participated in the Blessing of the Holy Oils and, along with Mgr. Twal, renewed their priestly vows. During the celebration, which lasted about four hours, the liturgy was at the height of its splendor. The celebration ended with a solemn procession, at the end of which the Blessed Sacrament was exposed upon the altar at the very stone of the Holy Sepulchre.
As soon as the celebration was over, some of the faithful still inside were locked in – some of them were tourists who didn’t heed the warning that had been given to me. The doors weren’t unlocked until around 3 p.m.; it was the custodial vicar who brought the key to the building, in accordance with the Status Quo arrangement, which requires that the key be handed over to the Franciscans for an hour (see “Holy Thursdays: Holy Sepulchre Doors Locked” under “More” on the right).
No sooner were the doors unlocked than they were locked again for a Eucharistic Adoration led by the Franciscans before the Tomb, a true Tabernacle of His Presence.
Meanwhile, a number of other Franciscans, along with a great throng, were praying in the Upper Room, which looked different this year, having been repainted and renovated with the support of the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of the Interior in preparation for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.
In the Upper Room twelve children from the parish of the Custody of the Holy Land had their feet washed during the traditional pilgrimage of the friars.
This act was repeated by the Custos upon his return before a parish gathering at the Saint Saviour Parish Church.
In the evening, representatives of all ecclesiastical bodies in the Holy Land gathered together in the Church of All Nations, near the Garden of Olives, for a prayer vigil.
The Church of All Nations, which is the largest church in Jerusalem, was overcrowded despite its spaciousness. Those who could not go in could follow the celebration outside through a PA system. Others waited reverently for the procession of torches, in which hundreds if not thousands walked to the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu.
Some of them stayed there in prayer and in silence – the most valorous among them until the rooster crowed the next morning – while others stood in silence in the Church of Gethsemane.
Mab
Homily Holy Thursday 2009