Maundy Thursday

"Maundy" comes from the Latin mandatum, which means, "command." The name refers to Christ's words at the Last Supper: "A new commandment I give unto you" (Jn. 13:34).

After the evening Mass, while the altar is stripped of its cloths, Psalm 21 is chanted with the antiphon, "They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots." This psalm is also tremendously important for our understanding of Christ's work on the Cross. Indeed, Christ Himself speaks the opening words from the Cross. Unfortunately, "O God my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? is far too often interpreted as meaning that some real separation took place between the Father and the Son on the Cross. I've written before about this typically Protestant understanding of the atonement as a penal substitution, i.e., that Jesus suffered the punishment of sin in our place so that we would not have to. This of course lands one in more difficulties and absurdities than it is easy to list, chief amongst which is the lessening of the substantial unity of the Trinity (no small problem if you ask anybody living in the 4th century).

Interesting to note that Cardinal Ratzinger, in his short work Behold the Pierced One, sees in these very same words evidence of the profound unity and communion between Father and Son. The plain fact is that even in the throes of death, our Lord was praying (in the words of a psalm) to His Father. His death was an act of prayer. According to the traditional Catholic understanding, Christ was abandoned only in that the Father did not send (and the Son did not ask Him to send) legions of angels to rescue Him. No, the Father abandoned the Son into the hands of sinful men, just as the Son abandoned Himself into the hands of sinful men.

Psalm 21: Unto the end, for the morning protection, a psalm for David.

O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins. O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me. But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel. In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them.

They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him. For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb: my hope from the breasts of my mother.

I was cast upon thee from the womb. From my mother's womb thou art my God, Depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me. Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me. They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring. I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered. My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death. For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and feet. They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me. They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots. But thou, O Lord, remove not thy help to a distance from me; look towards my defence.

Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword: my only one from the hand of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth; and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him. Let all the seed of Israel fear him: because he hath not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man. Neither hath he turned away his face from me: and when I cried to him he heard me.

With thee is my praise in a great church: I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him. The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their hearts shall live for ever and ever. All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord: And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight. For the kingdom is the Lord's; and he shall have dominion over the nations. All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored: all they that go down to the earth shall fall before him.

And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him. There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall show forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.