Maundy Thursday and Good Friday known also as Holy Friday

There are three powerful events beginning with Maundy Thursday, followed by Holy Friday, and Easter Sunday. Of course, the momentous “Week that Changed the World,” beginning with Palm Sunday and the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. All these culminate with the resurrection experience on Easter Sunday.

Needless to say there is much spiritual energy and significance taking place now. Plus, there is more, Passover and Good Friday occur on the same day this year. Passover continues on the Saturday of Easter weekend. Moreover, full moon is the day before Easter Sunday this year, 2015.

Take a nice breathe and enjoy the depth and significance each of these special days have for you.

Maundy Thursday—two things stand out about Maundy Thursday also known as “Mandatum (novum)” in Latin and corresponding with the words from John 13:34—in these words Jesus is telling the disciples: Please love one another as I have loved you, a main tenet of Jesus’ Teachings.

The stand-out two things we receive from Maundy Thursday are the foot washing, and the “‘last supper,’ which corresponds with *Holy Communion and Luke 22:19—20:

The Foot Washing—serving humanity in Christ love and humility. Be willing to bow to another in holy recognition and wash their feet with meekness and love-kindness.

*The Last Supper—none of us know when our last supper with another may be. Our time with loved ones, dear ones, and special friends and associates are golden moments to be cherished.

*In referring to Jesus—the Last Supper and in Holy Communion we celebrate our intimacy and spiritual richness and heritage with the beloved Master Teacher. We breathe the same holy air and eat of the substance of life in our food. We do this in remembrance of radiant God substance we eat and are made of.

Please take the moments you need to feel the importance Maundy Thursday has for you at this time.

Good Friday or Holy Friday

There are Seven Last words (statements) assigned to Jesus and spoken from the cross. These sacred statements by Jesus are spread throughout the New Testament Gospels, according to the specific Gospel writer. I will cover three of them in this writing.

First–The first word-statement: Luke 23:34–“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” A good statement to commit to memory and recall it the next time self, or neighbor, friend, relative, group, or anyone does something foolish or clumsy.

One of Jesus main principles as he taught and lived was and continues to be Forgiveness. There are no limits placed on the amount of times we are to forgive. Forgiveness is of the same family as unconditional love.

Actually, to have the dynamic power of words and ideas of Truth, to have the very essence of Truth as Jesus revealed come alive in us and in our lives we forgive and are forgiving–striving to love without requirements, demands, or stipulations put on that love. I believe Jesus modeled for us and meant for us to freely love one another as he loved during his time on earth in physical form and beyond.

Second–Luke 23:43–“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Jesus was hung in between two thieves. One of those thieves seemed to be arrogant and closed minded; the other, open and honoring of Jesus, the spiritual master and way-shower. Guess which one received–and accepted–Jesus’ blessing? In his open mindedness the penitent, open-hearted thief heard and felt the Divine benediction.

We block our eternal good in a closed-minded, condemnatory state of being. Like the idiom states ‘we can make a mess of things’ for a time. In actuality not a one of us can be separated from our good. We each are eternal and one with God and all the inherent blessings of the kingdom within us. Yet there are times when we have placed a barrier between us and our good. It is temporary and not a permanent state. It is like the Prodigal son or daughter–“off in a far country” and separated from his or her good for the time being.

We are forever in God’s grace and in the midst of Divine blessings. Acting from human ego, we can experience what feels like exile and distanced from our Spiritual inheritance.

The open-minded thief did not put off his good–he accepted it then and there. We are rewarded immediately in our receptivity and willingness. We realize as Jesus did–that the kingdom of the Divine Father and the Mother are within and woven into our being and our life. Therefore we impress ourselves with the Truth–Today, in the now-ness I am a gracious receiver and completely open to all that the Mother/Father is. I am One with Divine Wealth and Well-Being and do not postpone my good for another second. “Son, (Daughter) you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours” –Luke 15:31.

Third–The third word I want to highlight is found in Mark 15:34. “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” During our lifetime we may experience periods and events when we feel forsaken or estranged from the people we love and have counted on. We can feel as if that which supported us is not there any more.

We can feel helpless, lonely, abandoned, and perhaps betrayed by the very people and things we depended on. Jesus, I imagine, was in agony and sometimes in ecstasy on the cross. I can imagine he had challenging feelings and moments of doubt and fear. I believe also he experienced great oneness with God. Yet, there very likely were occasions on the cross when he felt desperate and separated, when we felt human.

We can take heart during these times of discomfort when we feel cut off from our Source, take heart that it is temporary and that it has ‘come to pass.’ One of the outstanding things about Jesus as the way-shower is that he experienced human challenges. It is in how he rose above them and overcame these difficulties and hardships. Time and time again, he announced his Divinity and Oneness with God. Not only that–he also announced our Divinity and Oneness with God and all that God is and all that he was and demonstrated–we are and can manifest. He stood as an awesome teacher–modeling for us the way to rise above the problems and heaviness of earthly things.

When Jesus felt forsaken, the space, the possibility for a great realization was present simultaneously. We have our power to overcome anything right in the midst of any difficulty. We remember this–as Jesus remembered it in the presence of his misery. He joined with his Divine power and triumphed from where he was at that moment and as he was in that second.

Hence we know also–In the first person let us know from our heart: There is a transforming potent power within me and as my very nature. I am united with it and now move with it beyond limited conditions, beliefs, and situations. I claim my good. I live renewed and restored in Spirit, in Truth, and in reality. I am free with the freedom of the indwelling Christ nature of my being, Amen. Thank you God.