Holy Thursday by Nita Young
HOLY THURSDAY
"COME HOLY SPIRIT INTO MY HEART, THAT I MAY SEE THE THINGS THAT ARE OF GOD. COME HOLY SPIRIT INTO
MY MIND, THAT I MAY KNOW THE THINGS THAT ARE OF GOD. COME HOLY SPIRIT INTO MY SOUL THAT I BELONG ONLY TO GOD. SANCTIFY ALL THAT I THINK, SAY AND DO THAT ALL WILL BE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD. AMEN."
The color black represents the sin, evil and the darkness of the world.
The gold of the lettering illuminates the Word, of the Son of God; that brings truth and light into this world.
As we read and live the gospel life, Jesus tears open and transforms this worldly darkness with the light of His Love, His Compassion and His Mercy; as is represented by the guilding on the edges of the torn open biblical scene.
The luminous glow surrounding the head of Jesus expresses the exalted state of His divinity and sacredness.
Jesus is robed in brown. The color brown signifies the renunciation of this world. He did not come to be King of
the earth, only of your heart and in the world to come. This is the reason brown was adopted by the Franciscan and Capuchin Orders as the color of their habits.
IHS are the first three letters of Ihsus, the Holy Name of Jesus in Greek.
The grapes (=wine) and wheat (=bread) are the earthly substance, that Jesus gave us at the Last Supper, and that our priests, today use, as they have for 2000 years, at the consecration of the mass; that transforms into the actual, unbloody sacrifice, of the body and blood of Jesus. He did not leave us orphans...He is with us daily in the Eucharist.
Peter is clothed in purple the color of sorrow and penitence; also it is the sign of imperial power... The successor to Jesus.
The 7 keys, representing the 7 sacraments, are the Keys to the church, given to Peter by Jesus. Seven also represent charity, grace and the Holy Spirit. The early writers used the number seven to signify completion and perfection. Also, there is reference to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which one receives in the sacrament of Confirmation-namely, WISDOM, FORTITUDE, KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, COUNCIL, PIETY and the FEAR OF THE LORD. When the friends of Job came to comfort him, they sat down with him upon the ground for seven days and seven nights (Job 2:13). Jacob, as a sign of perfect submission, bowed seven times before his brothers. Again, there is reference to the seven deadly sins, the seven joys and the seven sorrows of our Blessed Mother.
The tablecloth is covered with an old fish net, as the apostles were commissioned to become fishers of men.
The copper basin sits upon the ROCK. Jesus is often referred to as a rock from which the pure rivers of the gospel flow. St. Peter, also, is referred to as a rock, the cornerstone of the Church.
The Holy Spirit radiates eight fields of light. Eight is the number of the Resurrection, for it was on the eighth day after his entry into Jerusalem that Jesus rose from the grave. The Dove represents the 3rd person of the Blessed Trinity, The Holy Sprit, from which come the gifts of LOVE, PEACE and PURITY.
