Holy Thursday and The Upper Room

The mass on Holy Thursday marks the end of Lent and the beginning of the Triduum - from the evening of Holy (Maundy) Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday.  In the mass,  we celebrate three things: the washing of the feet (signifying a humility to service and the institution of priesthood) just as Jesus washed the feet of his twelve apostles, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist just as Jesus instructed his apostles to eat his body and drink his blood as the new covenant, and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament just as Jesus instructed his apostles to stay with him and keep watch in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Garden of Gethsemane today

So where did that last meal take place - the famous supper at which Jesus informs his apostles that one of them would betray him, the famous supper at which Jesus institutes the Eucharist, the famous supper at which Jesus institutes the priesthood, the famous supper that which has been painted and interpreted over and over for the last two thousand years?

Well, Scripture tells us in Luke 22: 7-13 ...
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it." They said to him, "Where will you have us prepare it?" He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house which he enters, and tell the householder, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?' And he will show you a large upper room furnished; there make ready." And they went, and found it as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

It has traditionally been called the Cenacle - or "supper room" translated from Latin.  It was an upper room in a house in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion.  This upper room was also the same place in which the apostles stayed and prayed after Jesus' Ascension and before Pentecost (when the Holy Spirit entered the room).  It was also the same room in which Jesus appeared to his apostles immediately following his resurrection, showing them his hands, feet, and side. It is the same room in which Jesus instructs his apostles that any sins they forgive will be forgiven and those that are not, will not (thus the institution of the sacrament of reconciliation).  This upper room was key to the early Church.  In fact, many scholars even refer to it as the "first church".  It served as a safe house for Jesus and his beloved apostles in his final hours and the days following his death and resurrection.

Today it is a room you can visit; however, it is a room that was built most likely in the 12th Century on top of the ruins of a 1st century synagogue/church.  Below are a few pictures to give you a better view.  May you all have a blessed Holy Thursday. May your love for Christ grow even more in the next three days!  ~+Katherine

The Upper Room as it probably looked in the 1st Century.

Stairs leading up to the Upper Room today.

Inside the Upper Room today