Thursday, 13 April 2017

Maundy Thursday



Today is Maundy Thursday in our church calendar. It's also known as Holy Thursday, remembering the night of the Last Supper when Jesus was betrayed.
Today our Queen will be at Leicester Cathedral where she will hand Maundy coins to pensioners. This follows the tradition of giving alms to the poor. The Queen is 90 so there will be ninety ladies and ninety gentlemen to receive the money.


 Maundy Thursday 2014.

These are the coins they will receive.
They are legal tender but I can't imagine anyone wanting to spend them!

And the name, Maundy?
It comes from the Latin 'mandatum, meaning a commandment.
At that Last Supper Jesus gave his disciples this commandment;
"Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John Ch 13, v34

How wonderful if our world could live that verse.

15 comments:

Frugally challenged said...

I nominated a lady to receive the Royal Maundy in 2000 when the Queen came to Lincoln and she gave to 150 people - 73 men and 73 women as she was 73 at the time. I stood behind my nominee - a memorable moment!

Frugally challenged said...

The maths there is definitely dum-dum - she gave to 146 people!

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

What a lovely tradition.

I agree with your thoughts on the world if we lived by the commandment to love one another!

Angela said...

A lovely post.It's been exciting today to see friends back in Leicester posting their pictures of the Queen on Facebook. If I still lived there, I'd have been joining them to line the streets. Today, as you point out, is a good reminder of Christ's command to love

Carolien said...

So very true, that would be wonderful! What a special tradition, thanks for sharing this with us.

Love, Carolien

Anonymous said...

Elizabeth, what an interesting tradition. I'd not heard of this today. God bless the Queen!

Anne Payne said...

I didn't know about this tradition of the Queen. I sure wouldn't spend my coin!

Yes. Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone did as Jesus commanded?

Joyful Resurrection Sunday to you~

Pom Pom said...

Oh, I DO love your queen.

ellen b. said...

Wonderful act for this day.

Debbie Harris said...

I so enjoyed this post. I was not aware of this tradition and neither was my husband who is Canadian. I shared this post with him. :)

It would certainly be a different world if people lived in this manner according to God's Word.

Blessings~~

Debbie Harris said...

I so enjoyed this post. I was not aware of this tradition and neither was my husband who is Canadian. I shared this post with him. :)

It would certainly be a different world if people lived in this manner according to God's Word.

Blessings~~

Lorrie said...

I saw photos earlier today of the Queen in Leicester. I had not heard of this custom of handing out coins on Maundy Thursday. It's lovely. And oh, wouldn't this world be a more peaceful and joy-filled place if we all lived by Christ's commandment?

Mary said...

More memories - I miss being in England at Easter, perhaps more than other holidays. The spring was always such a special time after the long winter, and reminds me of gardening with my mother. . . . . . . and scoffing Cadbury eggs at Easter, haha!

Blessings and peace for the weekend dears.
Mary -

Angela said...

One of the recipients was a dear friend [aged 91] from our old church back in Leicestershire. A well deserved honour for a lady who has devoted her life to the service of her local chapel and community [and she was a Land Girl in WW2]. We're all so proud of "Auntie" Helen Sculthorpe

Magali@TheLittleWhiteHouse said...

I loved learning more about Maundy Thursday! Have a nice Easter weekend!

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