Thursday of Holy Week is referred to as Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, and commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles.
My word nerd flows pretty freely most days, and Holy Week is no exception. So of course we're going to talk a little bit about maundy. It comes from the Latin word for command - mandatum.
A new commandment was shared on that day,
the day before the first ever Good Friday so many years ago.
Along with a similar spelling, maundy kind of sounds like mundane, doesn't it? What does holiness have to do with the ordinary stuff of life, anyway?
I used to think that holy could only be found in the really big and glorious things I could do and be a part of for God. I'm learning there's holiness to be found in the being, not just doing.
Grief and sorrow aren't a rare experience in this life. They're part of our day to day ordinary, which means we can - and should - catch glimpses of holiness there, too.
I recently had the opportunity to sit with someone in their sadness. There was nothing I could do but just be with them in the midst of their hopelessness.
Weep with those who weep.
Their grief couldn't be fixed. I resisted the urge to even try. I can't explain it fully, and I'm not even sure if I totally get it, but just sitting in it with them was a holy moment.
“Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground.”
― Oscar Wilde
Maybe it's got something to do with Jesus' own words about how my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within me. I guess that's why holy ground is often found there, loving God and others in the midst of the mundane.
It's what Jesus modeled for us at the Last Supper - washing the feet of his friends before hosting a meal for them, even knowing one of those friends would betray him just a few hours later.
Grief and sorrow were there that night too.
God with us in the midst of it.
Jesus, the great paradigm-shifter about
where holy ground is actually found.
There is holiness to be found in the mundane moments of life.
“I give you a new commandment—
to love one another.
Just as I have loved you,
you also are to love one another."
John 13:34 NET
Holy ground.
Until tomorrow,
Becky
*These words were originally published here last year.
My debut book - Glimpses of Love: The Most Excellent Way of Imperfection - is available now on Amazon.
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