Maundy Thursday is the day we commemorate the Lord’s Institution of the Eucharist, during which he blessed bread, broke it and gave it to the disciples. After this, he took the cup of wine, blessed it and gave it to the disciples to drink. When the supper was finished, he washed the feet of the disciples. He then said to them: “I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you. By this shall the world know that you are my disciples: That you have love for one another.”

Parishiners keep vigil in silent prayer and adoration, recalling our Lord’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and his rebuke to his disciples: “What? Could you not watch one hour with me?” Those keeping vigil at the Altar of Repose further recall and respond to Jesus’ admonition to his disciples to stay awake to pray with him until the Roman soldiers come to arrest and imprison him. The vigil usually concludes at Midnight.