Holy Thursday

Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt and said, "This month is to be

the beginning of all months, the first month of your year. Speak to the community of

Israel and say to them: On the tenth day of this month let each family take a lamb, a

lamb for each house. If the family is too small for a lamb, they must join with a

neighbor, the nearest to the house, according to the number of persons and to what

each one can eat. You will select a perfect lamb without blemish, a male born during

the present year, taken from the sheep or goats. Then you will keep it until the

fourteenth day of the month.

On that evening all the people will slaughter their lambs and take some of the blood to

put on the doorposts and on top of the doorframes of the houses where you eat. That

night you will eat the flesh roasted at the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

And this is how you will eat: with a belt round your waist, sandals on your feet and a

staff in your hand. You shall eat hastily for it is a passover in honor of Yahweh. On

that night I shall go through Egypt and strike every firstborn in Egypt, men and

animals; and I will even bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, I, Yahweh! The

blood on your houses will be the sign that you are there. I will see the blood and pass

over you; and you will escape the mortal plague when I strike Egypt. This is a day you

are to remember and celebrate in honor of Yahweh. It is to be kept as a festival day for

all generations forever.

This is the tradition of the Lord that I received and that in my turn I have handed on to

you; the Lord Jesus, on the night that he was delivered up, took bread and, after giving

thanks, broke it, saying, "This is my body which is broken for you; do this in memory

of me." In the same manner, taking the cup after the supper, he said, "This cup is the

new Covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do it in memory of me." So, then,

whenever you eat of this bread and drink from this cup, you are proclaiming the death

of the Lord until he comes.

It was before the feast of the Passover. Jesus realized that his hour had come to pass

from this world to the Father, and as he had loved those who were his own in the

world, he would love them with perfect love. They were at supper and the devil had

already put into the mind of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray. Jesus knew that

the Father had entrusted all things to him, and as he had come from God, he was going

to God. So he got up from table, removed his garment and taking a towel, wrapped it

around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples'

feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. When he came to Simon Peter,

Simon said to him, "Why, Lord, you want to wash my feet!" Jesus said, "What I am

doing you cannot understand now, but afterwards you will understand it." Peter

replied, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you,

you can have no part with me." Then Simon Peter said, "Lord, wash not only my feet,

but also my hands and my head!" Jesus replied, "Whoever has taken a bath does not

need to wash (except the feet), for he is clean all over. You are clean, though not all of

you." Jesus knew who was to betray him; because of this he said, "Not all of you are

clean." When Jesus had finished washing their feet, he put on his garment again, went

back to the table and said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You

call me Master and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and

Master, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another's feet. I have just

given you an example that as I have done, you also may do.