Maundy Thursday recalls the Last Supper shared by Jesus and his closest friends and followers. Our service takes its names from the Latin mandatum, the commandment which Jesus gives us this night: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

The Church also recognizes Maundy Thursday as the moment when Jesus revealed the gift of the Eucharist, the blessing of the bread and wine to represent the body and blood of Christ. Jesus’s actions are especially poignant as they occur immediately before his impending arrest, crucifixion, and death. The Eucharist becomes for his earliest followers and for us a way of keeping him close even after he is physically absent.

As we share this agape meal, and then enter into the ceremonial  Foot Washing, and institution of the Lord's Supper, you are invited to pray and to reflect upon the meaning of Jesus’ life, death, and coming resurrection in your own lives. Even in our grief and loss at the events commemorated this night, we remember and give thanks for the saving action of God revealed to us in Jesus.

At the conclusion of  the service, we will process from the Cathedral to the Altar of Repose where you are invited to quietly wait and pray in the presence of Jesus on this most sacred night.