Toward Easter - Daily Readings & Meditations for Lent 2025 - Day 44 / Maundy Thursday

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Stepping into the sacred space of Maundy Thursday, we explore the profound moments that transformed human history—the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood during the Last Supper. As Jesus took bread and wine, declaring "This is my Body" and "This is my Blood," He established a perpetual miracle of love that continues on altars worldwide.

The liturgy of Holy Thursday beautifully balances joy and sorrow. We begin with celebration—white vestments, flowers adorning the altar, the Gloria sung with organ accompaniment, and bells ringing joyfully. Yet this happiness gives way as the Blessed Sacrament is moved to the altar of repose, the church emptied, and the altar stripped—powerful symbols foreshadowing Christ's passion. The faithful are invited to keep vigil in prayer until midnight, when even this access is withdrawn as Jesus enters His imprisonment.

This episode takes an unexpected personal turn as I share the story of Father Raymond Zweber, the priest who rushed to baptize me as a premature infant in an incubator on Thanksgiving Day. His quiet faith, demonstrated through tears during Stations of the Cross and years of faithful service, shaped my Catholic identity in profound ways. On this day dedicated to the priesthood, I invite you to remember and pray for the priests who've administered sacraments in your life—baptism, confession, communion. Their hands have literally brought Christ to you. Whether you're able to attend Mass today or simply make a spiritual communion, let's honor these sacred institutions that continue to nourish our faith journey through the centuries.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Sancte eterni.
Sancte amare morti decladas nosIn teispera verum.
Good morning everyone, andwelcome to our reading and

(00:33):
meditation for this, the 44thday of Lent.
It is Maundy Thursday.
Holy Thursday today.
It is Maundy Thursday, holyThursday today.
And today we will be readingand meditating upon the Mass,

(00:53):
the Eucharist and the priesthood.
Excuse me so, without furtherado, I'm going to throw up our
image on screen and we are goingto get into this today.
So, without further ado, herehere we go.

(01:20):
Holy Thursday the Mass, theEucharist and the Priesthood.
From the words of consecrationthis is my body, this is the
chalice of my blood.
Do this in memory of me.
Jesus has just finishedconsuming the Paschal lamb.

(01:46):
When he takes bread, breaks itand gives it to his disciples,
saying Take all of you and eatof this, for this is my body.
Then, taking a chalice of wine,he says Take all of you and
drink of this, for this is thecup of my blood, the blood of

(02:10):
the new and eternal testament,shed for you and for many unto
the remission of sins.
At that very instant, jesusbecomes sacramentally present
under the species of bread andwine.
By the separate consecration ofthe body and the blood, he
effects a sacrifice.

(02:31):
On this day, therefore, we areat the heart of the mystery of
our salvation.
We are at the heart of theredemption.
There is nothing greater, nomore important event in all the
history of humanity than thissacrifice of Jesus, and the most

(02:54):
marvelous is that our Lordwilled that this moment be not
only commemorated butre-actualized, that he be made
present anew on our altars.
At each Mass, the priest renewsthe unique redemptive sacrifice,
so that the merits of thissacrifice might be applied to

(03:18):
our souls as well as to those ofthe faithful, living and dead.
O Jesus, what a miracle of loveThou hast worked beyond all
imagining.
Thine apostles make their firstcommunion on this day.
They also receive thepriesthood from Thine hands.

(03:39):
They have passed it on fromgeneration to generation, to all
of the bishops, theirsuccessors and, through them, to
all of the priests.
I thank thee for having willedto remain with us in the Holy
Eucharist and for having givenus priests and now a prayer from

(04:04):
St Teresa of Avila.
In the name of the Father andof the Son and of the Holy Ghost
, amen.
O Eternal Father, thy DivineSon has done all that could be
done in granting this great giftof the Eucharist to us poor
sinners Mercifully prevent Hisbeing so ill-treated.

(04:30):
May this precious oblationprevent the spread of the
terrible wickedness andsacrileges committed against the
most blessed sacrament.
In the name of the Father andof the Son and of the Holy Ghost
, amen.
In the name of the Father andof the Son and of the Holy Ghost

(04:51):
, amen.
Both of our thoughts for the daycome from St John Vianney.
The first thought come tocommunion, Come to Jesus, come
to live of Him in order to livefor him.

(05:12):
And our second thought today,the priesthood is the love of
the heart of Jesus.
We have two resolutions.
Our first resolution to receivecommunion with fervor and today

(05:36):
, if possible, or at least tomake a spiritual communion.
Our second resolution to recitein our Father and three Hail
Marys for the priests whobaptized us, gave us our first

(05:58):
communion and ordinarilyadminister to us the sacraments.
Okay, that is over some of thethe liturgy for holy week and

(06:30):
stuff like that.
So he does have a littlesection on holy thursday which
I'll read here.
I'm not going to throw up ourimage back on screen, but holy
thursday.
It is important to tell thechildren ahead of time that Holy
Thursday is a day when joy isdefinitely present, though it
will not last for long.
There are flowers on the altar,white vestments singing of the

(06:53):
Gloria, accompanied by the organin the joyful caroling of the
bells.
As a family, it is important toexpress the joy of this day in
a concrete manner, by a gooddessert at the main meal, for
example, or by some other treat.
May parents not hesitate toexplain the symbolism of the
washing of the feet.

(07:13):
It is by the love that you havefor one another that all will
recognize that you are mydisciples.
Let him who is greatest amongyou become the servant From the
Gospels of John and Gospels ofLuke there.
May parents explain also thatthis joy at the beginning of the
Mass will give way to sorrow.

(07:35):
After the Blessed Sacrament hasbeen placed on the altar of
repose, our Lord is taken awayfrom us.
The church remains empty.
The altar, which is the symbolof Christ, is stripped, just as
Jesus is stripped of hisgarments before being crucified.
During the stripping of thealtar, we sing Psalm 21 with the

(07:58):
antiphon.
They divided my garments amongthem and upon my vesture they
cast lots.
It is good to explain to thechildren that the holy sacrifice
is interrupted until JesusChrist emerges living from his
tomb on Easter night, our Lordis removed from all the

(08:21):
tabernacles of the world.
Our churches are empty.
Of course, they are stillplaces that help us pray, but
without the divine presence.
Finally, the children shouldlearn that the faithful take
turns during this night, goingto pray before the altar of
repose, but only until midnight.

(08:44):
After that, because Jesus isimprisoned, no one may draw near
him anymore.
Okay, so there's the littlereading there on Holy Thursday.
So there's the little readingthere on Holy Thursday.

(09:04):
Let me get back to the stufffor Holy Thursday.
There we are.
Yeah, so Maundy Thursday, diane, holy Thursday.
Yeah, so make it to the HolyThursday liturgy, if you at all

(09:27):
can Receive communion withfervor today, if you can.
If you can't make a spiritualcommunion, I like the resolution
here to pray for the priestswho baptize us and gave us our
first communion and confession.

(09:48):
Um, you know, today is the, the,the memorial for the, you know,
institution of the priesthood,and you know, thinking back,
there have been priests thathave been huge parts of my life.
You know, the priest whobaptized me and gave me my first

(10:12):
communion was an enormous partof my life, enormous part of my
life.
Um, you know he.
Uh, so I.
So I was actually born um 10 to12 weeks early.
Um, yeah, I was born at like 28to 30 weeks, something like
that.
I was supposed to be born likearound Valentine's day and was

(10:38):
actually born on ThanksgivingDay.
And so our priest rushed out tothe hospital on Thanksgiving
Day to baptize me while I was inan incubator, to baptize me

(10:59):
while I was in an incubator.
Um, so he, yeah, he rushed outon Thanksgiving day to baptize
me in case I didn't make it.
And then later on, after youknow I, I came home.
I was in the incubator for amonth, um, but after I, I came
home, you know, and and was washealthy.

(11:22):
Um, um, he did a conditionalbaptism publicly for the family
and everything.
But, yeah, he was the samepriest that I had for First
Communion.
He gave me my first confessionand he was a huge part of our

(11:44):
family's lives and I thank Godfor him very often.
Um, you know, he's the one whotaught me to, to, to serve at
the altar.
Um, I served many masses withhim.
He's the one who who gave me mylove for stations of the cross.

(12:05):
Um, you know, we, I'd be servingstations with him, you know,
and I, whether I was, uh,holding, uh, one of the two
candles or, you know, wascarrying the crucifix, um, you
know, we'd be standing next tohim as we went from station to
station.
And you know, he was this, thisolder, very quiet, um, old

(12:26):
German priest.
You know, he, he, he alwaysreminded me a lot of my grandpa,
because both him and my grandpaspoke with just just the
slightest accent, right, theslightest like German accent, um
, because they had both spokenGerman growing up at home, you
know, before they learnedEnglish, um, but so he was this

(12:49):
older german guy and, uh, he, henever said a lot through words,
like not even in his homilies.
His homilies were very, veryshort and to the point, but he
communicated very well throughhis mannerisms and how he held
himself and things of thatnature.

(13:10):
But we'd be doing stations andwe'd be moving from station to
station and throughout thestations, um, he would actually
get quieter.
But that was because, you know,you could only see this if you
were up close near to him.
But he, you would start to tearup during stations every time

(13:33):
and you could see how much, um,how much he was moved by the
passion and and, like I said, itwas every time.
We did stations, you know, andwe did stations twice a week
during lent.
It was once on wednesday, whichwas the night our CCD program
met, so he did stations for allthe kids going to CCD, and then

(13:58):
he did stations on Friday nightlike normal.
So there were some weeks Iserved stations twice with him,
but every time we did stations,you know, it was by the time
Jesus fell at, you know, atleast by the second time he had
tears in his eyes every time andhe, he, he taught me a lot

(14:20):
about what it meant to, uh, togrow up a Catholic.
So so, if you could, pleasepray for Father Raymond Zweber.
It was really cool.

(14:42):
A year or two ago, someonereached out to me on Twitter
with his last name, which is nota common last name was a
great-nephew of his who wasactually about to be ordained a
priest and was just looking formore info about his great-uncle,
because he grew up knowing hisgreat-uncle, of course, and

(15:05):
wanted to know what kind ofpriest he was.
So it was awesome it was.
It was awesome to to talk tohim and tell him what kind of
man his, his great uncle was,what kind of priest.
His great uncle was Um, so thatwas really rewarding.
But uh, yeah, sorry to kind ofget off the rails there on that.

(15:26):
But anyways, a long story,short, short.
Pray for the priest who made animpact on you in your life.
Pray for them today, receivecommunion today, pray at the
altar of repose tonight beforemidnight of course, and prepare

(15:49):
for the passion tomorrow.
But anyways, thank you all.
I hope you all have a great daytoday, on Maundy Thursday.
Remember to have a little joytoday and tomorrow.
We will see you for Good Friday, thank you.