The Thursday of Holy Week derives the name Maundy from the Latin ‘mandatum’, meaning commandment. In St. John’s account of the Last Supper, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment, “that you love one another as I have loved you”.

This Eucharist, is in obedience to Jesus' command to “do this in remembrance of me.” At the end of the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples went to Gethsemane, singing a hymn as they went. So also the mood of the end of this service changes from light to darkness, from celebration to the agony of prayer, betrayal, arrest, and trial. The church is stripped of all ornament and decoration, a reminder that during this night Christ will be stripped and humiliated. The church remains bare and desolate until we gather to proclaim his resurrection.

Finally, in the Watch of Prayer in the Wentworth Chapel, we watch and pray with Christ, who is present among us in the Sacrament of Holy Communion which is kept before us on the altar of repose in the midst of a ‘garden’. As we do so, we remember his challenge to stay awake for just one hour in prayer, and we contemplate the great privilege that we have in being children of the God who endured so much for our sake.