Tag: Wash

Today is Holy Thursday. Last week at JP2 I referred to this day as “Maundy Thursday” and was greeted with a number of confused looks. Apparently this moniker isn’t used that often in the United States…

The name “Maundy Thursday” comes from a verse in John’s Gospel. The Latin translation in the Vulgate is as follows:

“Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos”
– Johannes XIII:XXXIV

The word “Maundy”  is a corruption of the first word in the above quotation. That word, “Mandatum”, is the root from which we get the English words “mandate” and “mandatory”, terms which we use to indicate that something is required. This is because “Mandatum” literally means “commandment”, as we can see from the translation of the previous passage:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another”
– John 13:34

This is the passage which we will hear read at Mass today and which is then enacted by the priest, where he washes the feet of twelve of his parishioners, in imitation of Christ washing the feet of the Twelve: