Maundy Thursday

Mass of the Lord's Supper 7.30pm

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Today we begin the Triduum - the three great days which are at the centre of our salvation

The word "Maundy" is a corruption of the latin word mandatum, meaning commandment. It is the name given to today because of the Lord's novum mandatum, his new commandment:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. Jn 13: 34

Jesus gives us this new commandment after having washed his disciples' feet. It is the night before his death, his betrayer has already left the room in order to hand him over to the authorities. And Jesus declares "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him". Jn 13:31

The Jewish Passover celebrated God's act of rescue, when he set the People of Israel free from slavery and bondage in Egypt, and led them to the Promised Land. At the "Last Supper" Jesus radically transforms that story giving us the Passover meal of the new covenant: the Eucharist. We are set free from slavery to sin and are led into the promised land of our heavenly home.

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Love is at the very heart of the Gospel of our Blessed Lord. Pope Benedict has reminded us of this so powerfully by his two important teaching documents thus far: his first Engyclical Letter, Deus Caritas est - God is Love and his Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis - The Sacrament of Love.

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The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love, and tonight we celebrate this great gift to the Church, which the Lord gave us on the night before he died. The link between the Cross and the Eucharist is central to what we as Catholics believe about the Mass. This is our Sacrifice, this is the Sacrament of our Salvation.

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"Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him". Tonight's Mass begins with the hymn We should glory in the Cross of Christ, based on the entrance antiphon of the Mass. We also sing to the glory of God as the Gloria makes a brief, restrained, return this evening, having been absent from the Liturgy since Ash Wednesday.

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How is it that we can "glory" in the Cross, the great evil instrument of torture and death of the Roman Empire? It is because it is the great sign of the length to which God goes to redeem us: His only Son is himself the victim. The Cross is at the centre of the Triduum - it looms over this evening, it is stained with the Blood of the Lamb on Good Friday, it is empty on Easter Sunday. Love's redeeming work is done in all these events.

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The cross at Newman House, containing a Relic of the True Cross

A new Commandment - love one another". The message of love is deepened by the particular ritual tonight of the washing of feet. At the Last Supper, the Lord, the suffering servant, washed his disciples' feet, telling them that he was leaving them an example of service. So tonight the priest washes the feet of a representative number of the faithful in a ritual known in latin as the pedilavium. This is not only a sign of the priest's own call to serve the People of God, but a sign of the service that the Lord still renders to us, giving us the commandment to follow his example of love and service. It is a prelude to the great washing we receive in our baptism, which we will celebrate at Easter.

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Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, performing the pedilavium in Rome.

The ritual of service completed we move to the great passover meal of the new covenant: the Eucharist. As the people of Israel celebrated their deliverance from slavery, with the blood of the lamb having been signed on their doorposts, so we celebrate our deliverance from sin and death through the blood of the Lamb of God. Jesus took the bread and wine of the passover meal and consecrated them as his Body and Blood. How sublime a mystery! How great a treasure we have been given! So tonight we receive the Eucharist in joy, in anticipation of partaking of the great heavenly banquet of the Lamb of God.

But the shadows draw in, and the joyful celebration begins to give way as a more sombre mood closes in on us. There is no blessing at the end of Mass. Instead we transfer the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose, going in Procession singing the solemn praises of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The Altar of Repose resembles the Garden of Gethsemane in which the final agonised hours of Jesus are spent, before he is handed over to his enemies. He prays that most pure prayer: Father, thy will be done. And he invites us to "watch and pray". So we keep watch with the Lord. (At Newman House we also have a now established tradition of going to visit the Altars of Repose in our neighbouring churches, as a sign of our communion and fellowship). The Watch is kept until midnight, when we disperse as the disciples did. For already the day of the Lord's Passion has arrived.

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The Altar of Repose at Newman House

The Chrism Mass

One celebration in Holy Week that is largely unknown to most people is the Chrism Mass. This is meant to be celebrated on the morning of Maundy Thursday in the Cathedral, although for good reason it can also take place at another time and another place. In our Diocese of Westminster it is celebrated on the Tuesday of Holy Week at Westminster Cathedral.

At the Chrism Mass, the Bishop gathers with all the priests of his diocese for a joyful celebration. It is not often that all the priests of a diocese can get together, so the Chrism Mass is usually a time of great conviviality, a celebration of the unity of the diocese with its bishop.

The Cardinal and his auxiliary bishops: Bernard Longley, George Stack, Alan Hopes and John Arnold

There are two parts to the Chrism Mass. The first is the Renewal of Priestly Vows. This is a fairly recent addition to the ritual, and one of the fruits of the liturgical renewal following the Second Vatican Council. At the Easter Vigil we all renew the promises of our baptism, because we have died and risen with Christ. On Maundy Thursday we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist at the Mass of the Lord's Supper, and also the Lord's commandment for us to love and serve one another. It is particularly appropriate therefore for priests to reflect on this day on their vocation, which is to love and serve God's people, and care for them especially through the celebration of the sacraments. It is also a good day for all the People of God to pray for their priests, and to pray for vocations to the priesthood.



The second part is the blessing of the oils which will be used in the coming year. The oil used is always the purest olive oil and it is blessed at the Chrism Mass to make the three holy oils:

1. The Oil of the Sick - used in the Sacrament of Healing. Whenever we are seriously ill (the condition being serious is important: hayfever or a blocked nose is not really serious!) we should ask a priest for this sacrament. It is a reminder to us that God never abandons us and is always longing to save us and raise us up.
2. The Oil of Catechumens - used to anoint those who are preparing for Baptism. It is a sign of God's strengthening those who are seeking to follow his son, and a rejection of Satan who is exorcised from those approaching baptism.
3. The Oil of Chrism - used to anoint the baptised at their confirmation, and those being ordained. A sweet smelling perfume is mixed with the oil, and the bishop breathes over it during the consecration prayer. Christ means the anointed one, Christian is a follower of Christ, an anointed one as well. This is the great sacrament by which we are indeed anointed, chrismated. Priests are anointed on their palms at their ordination, and bishops on their heads, a sign of their consecration to God's service. (Interesting aside: when the sick are anointed, their palms are anointed. Priests, however, are traditionally anointed on the back of their hands, because their palms were anointed at their ordination).
   

The ordination of Bishop John Arnold in 2006. Bishop John will be visiting Newman House to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation on 29th April this year.

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After the Chrism Mass the priests all collect their supplies of oil for use in their parishes for the coming year. We then welcome the Holy oils at the beginning of the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Maundy Thursday.

Some snaps of our Palm Sunday Celebrations

The Chapel, before Mass

Fr Mark Proclaiming The Gospel of the Lord's entrance to Jerusalem

Bishop Alan blessing the palms

The Procession
That's Fr Brian's car parked in front of Newman House!

Narrating the Passion

A lovely photograph of Bishop Alan, during the Proclamation of the Passion

Thought for Holy Week from Cardinal Newman

Icon by Br R. Lentz ofm

[An] important truth is in various ways brought before our minds at the season sacred to the memory of Christ's betrayal and death. The contrast displayed in the Gospels between His behaviour on the one hand, as the time of His crucifixion drew near, and that both of His disciples and of the Jewish populace on the other, is full of instruction, if we will receive it; He steadily fixing His face to endure those sufferings which were the atonement for our sins, yet without aught of mental excitement or agitation; His disciples and the Jewish multitude first protesting their devotion to Him in vehement language, then, the one deserting Him, the other even clamouring for His crucifixion. He entered Jerusalem in triumph; the multitude cutting down branches of palm-trees, and strewing them in the way, as in honour of a king and conqueror . He had lately raised Lazarus from the dead; and so great a miracle had given Him great temporary favour with the populace. Multitudes flocked to Bethany to see Him and Lazarus; and when He set out for Jerusalem where He was to suffer, they, little thinking that they would soon cry "Crucify Him," went out to meet Him with the palm-branches, and hailing Him as their Messiah, led Him on into the holy city. Here was an instance of a popular excitement. The next instance of excited feeling is found in that melancholy self-confidence of St. Peter... When our Saviour foretold Peter's trial and fall, Peter at length "spake the more vehemently, If I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise." Yet in a little while both the people and the Apostle abandoned their Messiah; the ardour of their devotion had run its course.

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

Sunday 1 April

10.30am

Solemn Commemoration of the Lord's Entrance to Jerusalem, Procession and Mass of the Passion

We have the privilege this year of having Bishop Alan Hopes to preside at our Palm Sunday celebrations. Like Bishop Bernard, Bishop Alan is a great friend of the Chaplaincy and tries to visit us at least once a year.

Here he is after the Freshers' Mass in 2005, with the then Presidents of the UCL, LSE and KCL Cathsocs (Tracey Barret, Arthur Krebbers and Joe Matlak).

Our Palm Sunday Celebrations begin out on Gower Street, opposite the Waterstone's bookshop. Every year we have some bewildered looks from people travelling by to do their shopping in Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street. We also have the annual wave of greeting from a minibus full of people, with The Jesus Army sprayed across its sides. What are we up to, people may well wonder.

The first part of the Mass is a commemoration of the Lord's Entrance into Jerusalem. It's not a commemoration like a nativity play is a commemoration of the Lord's birth. Rather, we ourselves welcome the Lord into our own vicinity, our own city. By our public witness, we are proclaiming Christ to be present even on Gower Street! The great Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner described mission thus: "The mission of the Church is not to carry Christ to the world as if he were absent from it. The mission of the Church is to help the world recognise Christ, who is already present".

The palms that we bless are carried triumphantly. They are little sacramentals, blessed objects, which we should then keep reverently. It is a good custom to place them behind the crucifix each one of us should have in our rooms. Next year, they are returned and burnt, to make the ash for Ash Wednesday. Triumph and tragedy, acclamation and betrayal are so often close companions.

After the joyful procession, the Mass takes on a more sombre tone as our minds are turned to the Passion of the Lord. The Passion is solemnly proclaimed, of course, on Good Friday, from the Gospel of John. But it is an event so immense, intense and profound that we hear it twice. On Passion Sunday it is proclaimed from the Gospel we are following for the year - this year it is the Gospel of Luke (Year C). The method of proclaiming the Passion varies, from a solemn chant to exquisite singing (some famous composers have set the Passion to sublime music) to a simple Proclamation in the usual way. At Newman House we follow the common Catholic custom of a narrative proclamation, with various people reading parts, and the whole congregation reading the parts of the crowd. It's a reminder of the theological point that we all in some way accuse Jesus and reject him, through our sinfulness. The sombre tone is emphasised when we reach the moment of Jesus's death, when we pause to kneel in silence.

Following a short homily, Mass continues in the usual way.

Passiontide

A few years ago one of our resident wags commented, when he saw the image of our Lady veiled for Passiontide, "Ooh, she looks like our Lady of Afghanistan now!"

Veiling images for Passiontide is part of our liturgical history and tradition. Passiontide is what the two weeks before Easter Sunday is called. It seems that it is in fact an older season than Lent itself. It is divided into the week after Lent V, known as Passion Week, and the week after Palm Sunday, known as Holy Week.

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In former days, today, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, used to be called "Passion Sunday" because it began the season of Passiontide. In fact, that was just shorthand for "Passion Sunday I", the following Sunday being "Passion Sunday II". But Passion Sunday II was also better known as "Palm Sunday", for obvious reasons. Historically, the much earlier usage of the name "Passion Sunday" belonged to Palm Sunday, not to Lent V. This is because on Palm Sunday, after the joyful Procession commemorating the Lord's triumphant entry to Jerusalem, the mood of the Liturgy shifts and the Mass becomes the Mass of the Passion, with the solemn reading of the Passion narrative as the Gospel. This shift was also marked in the old rite by the priest changing vestments, from red for the procession, to purple for the Mass (this no longer happens).

When the Liturgy and Liturgical Calendar were reformed after the Second Vatican Council, this more ancient usage of the name "Passion Sunday" was restored. Except, people knew what Palm Sunday was, and were not about to start calling it Passion Sunday! An attempt at compromise was used by some liturgists and parishes in calling it "Passion/Palm Sunday", which was inelegant in the extreme. What we now have is the much better description of it as Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion - though we still tend to call it simply Palm Sunday!

The veiling of images probably has a simple origin, based on cultural customs, with a theological meaning later added. One such is that it comes from the former Gospel reading for Lent V (the old Passion Sunday), John 8:46-59. The last verse reads:

So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

This hiding of himself was represented by the veiling of images of Jesus, later extended to all images in the church.

There are other reasons given by some in an attempt to provide a more theological explanation. Some authors suggest that it is a sign of Christ's divinity being hidden at the time of his Passion. Or that we should make a concerted mental effort in contemplating the Lord's Passion at this time, and not have images to focus on. On Good Friday, one option for the Veneration of the Cross is for it to be uncovered in stages while the refrain is sung: This is the Wood of the Cross on which hung the Saviour of the World. Come, Let us worship! (At Newman House we use the other option, which is to process the Cross through the Church, so it is not ritually uncovered).

So that is why we now have "our Lady of Afghanistan" in our Chapel!

Thought for the week from Cardinal Newman

We are now approaching that most sacred day when we commemorate Christ's passion and death. Let us try to fix our minds upon this great thought. Let us try, what is so very difficult, to put off other thoughts, to clear our minds of things transitory, temporal, and earthly, and to occupy them with the contemplation of the Eternal Priest and His one ever-enduring Sacrifice;—that Sacrifice which, though completed once for all on Calvary, yet ever abideth, and, in its power and its grace, is ever present among us, and is at all times gratefully and awfully to be commemorated, but now especially, when the time of year is come at which it was made. Let us look upon Him who was lifted up that He might draw us to Him; and, by being drawn one and all to Him, let us be drawn to each other, so that we may understand and feel that He has redeemed us one and all, and that, unless we love one another, we cannot really have love to Him who laid down His life for us.

Holy Week & Easter

The term may be over, but the community at Newman House keeps pressing on through to Easter. We celebrate the whole of the Sacred Triduum fulsomely and in all its richness, and it is always a wonderful time. The Celebrations of Holy Week this year:

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion: Mass at 10.30am, Celebrated by Bishop Alan Hopes.

Holy Thursday: Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper at 7.30pm, followed by the Watching of the Blessed Sacrament until Midnight.

Good Friday: Celebration of the Lord's Passion at 3pm.

Holy Saturday: The Easter Vigil of the Lord's Resurrection 8pm

Easter Sunday: Mass of the Lord's Resurrection 10.30am

Here are a few snaps of Palm Sunday and the Easter Vigil from the last couple of years.

Bishop Bernard Longley visits Bloomsbury & Westminster

As part of his round of visits to various institutions around the Diocese, Bishop Bernard Longley this week arrived at SOAS, the Institute of Education, and the University of Westminster, where he met with students and staff and celebrated the Mass.

The chaplains are always very grateful that Bishop Bernard is always so willing to come and visit, and for the generous support that he gives the work of the Chaplaincy. A few snapshots of this week’s visits follow:

Fr Joe talking to Professor Gerald Grace, the Head of the Centre for Research and Development in Catholic Education (CRDCE) at the Institute of Education.

(SOAS, ISA, Birkbeck, the Institute of Education and the many specialised institutions in the vicinity group together under the banner ‘Bloomsbury Catholics’, and the Chaplains to these institutions are the formidable team of Fr Joe Evans and Sr Catherine Cruz.)

Brick Lane to Gower Street - an exchange visit

We were delighted to welcome children from Christ Church School who are taught by students from the Chaplaincy in our Brick Lane Tutoring Scheme every Wednesday afternoon. The Scheme runs every week throughout the term, and the faithful band of tutors makes their way across London to help the children with basic skills. As an end-of-term treat, the children visited Newman House, and were later taken on a tour of UCL. Some snapshots:

The Tutoring Scheme is a great success, and our thanks go to all the tutors for their enthusiasm and dedication. Special thanks must go to Carl Fernandes who has led the team with his customary aplomb, and to Prof John Hirsch for his boundless enthusiasm for the project.