Holy Thursday

Matthew 26:27 – Those who had arrested Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.

In between the time period when Christ was arrested and when He was brought to the Sanhedrin, Christ was thrown into a holding cell believed to be on the site of the modern day church of St. Peter in Gallicantu just on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It was here that Christ was alone, waiting for his crucifixion. Father Buckner always compared this time where Christ was alone and waiting to Christ today in the Tabernacle of the church. This is why I always thought that Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was a marvelous thing, and the times when the church was empty a very sad and almost tragic thing.

Christ is alone tonight. Waiting to be crucified for our sins. Tomorrow He will die for our inequities.

Matthew 26:40 – When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?”

Salve Regina, mater misericordiae,

Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae;

Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes in hac lacrymarum valle.

Eia ergo advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte.

Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O Clemens, O pia, O dulcis (Virgo) Maria.