A Poem for Maundy Thursday

I'm posting a poem and a picture for each day of Holy Week this year. (Except for yesterday. Because...because it was just one of those days.) Today's poem might look more fit for tomorrow, but...well, there are many, many poems about Good Friday, and so we'll spread the goodness over two days.

Good Friday

by Christina Rossetti

Am I a stone and not a sheep That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy Cross, To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss, And yet not weep? Not so those women loved Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee; Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly; Not so the thief was moved; Not so the Sun and Moon Which hid their faces in a starless sky, A horror of great darkness at broad noon— I, only I. Yet give not o'er, But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock; Greater than Moses, turn and look once more And smite a rock.

Collect for Maundy Thursday

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

                                                         -from The Book of Common Prayer.

Maundy Thursday and Spring Cleaning

"I always thought it was 'Monday-Thursday', you know, another of those great Christian paradoxes," quoth one of my friends, back when we were all new to this liturgical thing. But no, "Maundy" as in "mandatum" as in "command". I think. Although I was never sure if that command was the "a new command I give you: love one another" or the "Do this" of the Lord's supper. I suspect the latter - maybe someone can enlighten me? Anyway, in both cases, certainly a high holy day. (And that's not even touching Passover!)

So, the best part of my day today was spent spring cleaning. Out of the four main rooms of my house, I got one completely done. But that made me so happy.

And - I haven't quite gotten this worked out yet - but it felt somehow like the culmination of my Lenten fasting. Like I was getting to see it worked out in real life. As if in moving and shifting and picking up and sweeping out that room, I was getting to see how my heart looked after six weeks of being moved and shifted and picked up and swept by the unfamiliar rhythms of Lent.

I dunno. There's just something so good about a clean room, a room that's been swept from the baseboards out.

The only part of the room I didn't get through was the closet. I hope that's not deeply symbolic of anything - eep! But I'm planning on getting through that too before Easter Sunday, so maybe it's okay.

:D

A good Maundy Thursday to you,
Jessica

p.s. Okay, Wikipedia has it that the "mandatum" does refer to the command to love one another, the whole phrase being: "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos": "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you." Cool! That's something to remember all year long.