Thursday of Holy Week is known as Maundy Thursday. Maundy comes from the word mandatam, which means command. On this night, Jesus commanded the apostles to “Love each other, as I have loved you.”
The last supper was the very first mass and was celebrated by Jesus Christ. Usually, the annual washing of the feet by the priest will be done at mass. At the end of the celebration, the blessed sacrament will be solemnly processed to an “Altar of repose” and “Pange lingua gloriosi corporis mysterium” will be sung along the way.
The altar will be totally stripped for the solemnity of Good Friday.
Ways to Keep Holy Thursday
Of course, if you can, attend mass and stay to pray after the Blessed Sacrament is put away.
There is an old tradition of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday Evening. This probably originated in Rome. My family this year is planning to visit and pray at 7 of the surrounding churches to stay awake with Jesus during this blessed evening.
When you have very little children, perhaps put holy pictures up around your home or yard and take the children to each spot and have them say a little prayer.
Watch a movie like The Passion of the Christ or Jesus of Nazareth.
With older kids, listen to an excellent homily. Here’s one from the Pandemic you can listen to it here.
Favorite crafts for Maundy Thursday
In 2011 we made this adorable craft featured on the Catholic Icing Blog. It was a lot of fun. Rosie (6 years old at the time ) in particular had a good time with it. But I put it away after Easter and when I got it out the next year it just looked kind of worse for wear. So in 2012, I decided to “ramp it up” a little bit so that I could have a craft that could last for a few more years.
I still used Lacy’s Last Supper Downloads, which are available for free on her site. Izzy (who was 13) colored them with magic markers and then cut them out. Then we glued them to heavier Foam-Sheets. We cut the foam then to match the form of each apostle.
When the apostles and Jesus were all colored and cut out, I had Rosie color the table wear.
I also used heavy craft foam to cover the table that Mr. Pete then graciously cut and put together. This gave the piece some weight and was more stable than the egg cartons suggested in the original instructions. That was important because I want to be able to save and use this piece for years to come. 
This piece is gracing our built-in buffet in the dining room this weekend. I also think that this would be a good craft to do for a First Communion centerpiece.
Here are our results –
Lacy also supplies the names for the apostles so we wrote them on the back.
Now you can imagine that since this craft is over ten years old and has been stored in a closet when not in use, it gets a little beat up. So this year I also reinforced the figures that had started to bend forward, with craft sticks hot glued to the back.
A Peg saint plan
Rosie made peg saints for all of the apostles. She painted each one by hand and included the symbol for each one on their figure.
For example, here is Judas holding his sack of silver.
She researched each saint on the internet and tried to be true to the figures she saw there – although St. Simon is based more on the character from Jesus Christ Superstar!
She set about making their table too. We bought wooden tables for a few dollars at Michaels. Mr. Pete removed the legs for us. Then Rosie crafted cups, plates, and food out of modeling clay that we were able to harden in the oven. When those were done she glued them to the table. We have the saints set around them pretty much as the painting depicts.
One thing for certain, she will never forget who the original 12 apostles were!
Holy Thursday Links on Del.icio.us.
OK – yes I realize that these are fish on these plates instead of a Passover lamb- which my old testament teaching husband quickly pointed out and that overlooked because I thought the fish she made were so cute! So around the house, we are laughing that this is the Last Lunch – and that lamb was served later for supper.
This year I am also going to use my Catholic Icing membership to decorate my home altar. I’m particularly interested in having my own paschal candle for the table this Easter Sunday! These crafts are easy to print and use in your own domestic churches!
Holy Thursday
The Learning Experience of Holy Week
Holy Thursday – Catholic Online
Maudy Thursday
Catholic Culture
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[…] The institution of the Holy Eucharist is, of course, celebrated on Holy Thursday during Holy Week. But the Feast of Corpus Christi gives the church a chance to celebrate the gift of the Body and Blood of Jesus in a more festive way than what is appropriate during the Week of Christ’s Passion and Death. […]