Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday follows Spy Wednesday  ( when Judas conspired against Our Lord) in  Holy Week and marks the beginning of the Triduum. Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum meaning command, as in take and eat. 

So now that the Triduum is upon us, the whole family is taking part. Fred took the older boys to evening services and we drew straws to see who would stay with the little ones ( guess who got the short one for tonight...) Fred will be on duty tomorrow. I know the catchy song "WATCH and PRAY" is on everyone's mind but it takes on a different meaning with so many little ones. One of us WATCHES and the other one PRAYS.Its been years since we've been able to do the watch and pray simultaneously. We used to do a whole lot of "WATCHING... and losing our tempers", or "WATCHING... from the parking lot" (which seemed almost worse then falling asleep like Peter James and John), and even some "PRAYING... that we didn't blow a gasket in the middle of church"  but now, thankfully we see the wisdom is taking turns for our sake, and everyone else's.

So, I bathed the kids and gave haircuts to the little boys ( actually to all the boys including Fred, can you say itchy?) and then we put in Jesus of Nazareth when the older ones left for Mass so I could explain to the little ones what was happening tonight. Why is this night different from all other nights? It was going pretty well until Michael felt since Jesus died for our sins he wanted to just go ahead and die now too. In fact he tried to convince Thomas, Mary and Sarah the merits of death.It got a little out of hand. "I want to die, I want to die NOW!"  I assured him we will all die someday but that I hope he lives to a ripe old age. Mary announced she loves everyone in heaven...except for Helen...Helen is not in heaven. ( troubled expression turning sad) I assured her she could love her even before she got to heaven which turned her expression back to relief and delight...disaster averted, Phew! Thomas  thought Peter and Judas were the same  man and was pretty certain St Peter had a sinister plot in him and asked repeatedly if I were sure he was really not a bad guy? ( which can actually be tricky to answer)

  Sarah switched Jesus and Judas the whole way through and was horrified a sheep was going to be eaten for anyone's dinner. All in all we remained as focused and prayerful as could be reasonably expected for one Mother and five children 7,6,4,2,and 1 year old respectively.

Hoping the Lord draws each and everyone of you closer to His heart in these most Holy of Days.