On this day in olden times, Jesus returned to Jerusalem mainly to join His 12 Apostles in the celebration of Israel’s greatest holiday of the "Passover Feast" recalling the Moses-led exodus to freedom among thousands of Jews kept slaves by the pharaohs in Egypt for generations.

Just like the previous years, Jesus had always celebrated the "Passover Meal" with His apostles and disciples partaking of the Paschal Lamb, the main course served in each Jewish household every year.

However, the church gives a deeper significance to that first Holy Thursday event when Jesus became the true sacrificial "Paschal Lamb," coming as it did hours before His human suffering began in the hands of Roman and Jewish officials.

Jesus had anticipated the Passover celebration as the beginning for Him to make the supreme sacrifice of going through His Passion, from the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to His Crucifixion in Mount Calvary, being the only way to open the doors of heaven for man’s salvation.

The "Last Supper" was the final meal Jesus shared with His 12 apostles in the ‘Upper Room’ of the house lent to Jesus by His friend, Nicodemus, located in Mount Zion, just outside the walls of Jerusalem.

That ‘Upper Room" is also known as the "Coenaculum," or "Cenacle" where a basilica was built in the 14th century, destroyed but later rebuilt by the Muslims as a mosque where underneath the structure could be found the tomb of David.

Today, that "Upper Room" site of the Last Supper has become one of the favorite destinations of tourists and pilgrims despite the escalating hostilities in the Middle East specially during the Lenten season.

Holy Thursday then is the culmination of a week that began with jubilation that greeted Jesus’ return to the city from a wildly cheering crowd which, in just a few days, turned to jeer over government allegations of blasphemy, among others.

Beyond the jeering came the treachery by Judas Iscariot, a trusted apostle, who sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver shekels, Jerusalem’s unit of currency to the Jews.

On the eve of Holy Thursday, Jesus was more than ready to face the eye of the storm awaiting Him following the "kiss of Judas" that gave away His identity to the high priests of the Jews to signal his arrest.

Today, richly-adorned side altars of churches will be the central focus of devotion during the "Visita Iglesia," starting at sunset where the Holy Eucharist stands exposed as a symbol of the absence of Jesus.

In the provinces where there is only big church in each town, the faithful will enter and exit in its main and side doors 14 times, not only similarly retracing the 14 Stations of the Cross Jesus took on His way to Calvary, but in keeping with the Maundy Thursday tradition of visiting 14 churches at this time of the Holy Week.

Holy Thursday events, as has been written in the Scriptures 500 years before they happened, also signaled the onset of the sorrow of the Blessed Mother and the remaining beloved disciples that the time had come for Jesus to leave them.

The "Last Supper," being the final meal Jesus took with His 12 apostles and immortalized in paintings that can be found hanging in many Christian homes today, was the beginning of the end of Jesus brief life on earth, the time when He told them: "Amen, Amen, I say to you, my time is at hand….Love one another as I have loved you".

Jesus’ spirit of humility, servanthood remembered on Maundy Thursday

The faithful solemnly commemorate today, Maundy Thursday, Jesus’ institution of the Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper, the oldest of the observances peculiar to Holy Week.

Church services will include the sharing of the Eucharist, as well as the symbolic reenactment of the washing of the feet (Pedilavium) in which the priest will wash the feet of 12 people to commemorate Jesus’ washing of the feet of His apostlesples at the start of the Last Supper (Passover Supper or the Feast of the Unleavened Bread).

In a perfect display of the spirit of humility and servanthood, Jesus, who was called "master" and "teacher" by His followers, humbled Himself as He served and washed the feet of His apostles "to emphasize that He came not to be served, but to serve and that in the eyes of God, all are equal and no one is greater than another."

The "Madatum novum do vobis" (A new commandment I give to you) will be sung in Catholic churches today as it begins the observance of the Paschal Triduum, a three-day tradition that begins tonight and concludes, as it reaches its high point, with the evening prayer at the Easter Vigil on the evening of Black Saturday.

In many churches, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and the washing of the feet precede the Maundy Thursday vigil, which is usually held from 7 p.m. until midnight. Then, the church altar is stripped after the vespers as a more profound somber attitude prevails.

Confession services will be extended to allow more individuals to go to confession.

The faithful will also observe the "Visita Iglesia" as a visit to seven or more churches to commemorate the vigil that the apostles kept while Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane where He was later betrayed by Judas Iscariot.

In Rome, Italy, additional services will be held such as the consecration of the holy oils and the reconciliation of the penitents.

The word "Maundy" comes from the Latin word "mandatum" which means command and has reference to the commandment that Jesus taught His apostles during the Last Supper.

He said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35). (Christina I. Hermoso)