Collect for Maundy Thursday (1928 BCP)

Collect for Maundy Thursday (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer for Thursday before Easter, "commonly called Maundy Thursday." It is a 1928 American addition placed with the eucharistic institution from 1 Corinthians 11, the Passion according to St. Luke 23, and the alternate Gospel of St. John 13. The prayer interprets Maundy Thursday as thankful reception of the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood in remembrance of him, while keeping the Last Supper inside the nearness of the Passion.

Text of the Collect

ALMIGHTY Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, did institute the Sacrament of his Body and Blood; Mercifully grant that we may thankfully receive the same in remembrance of him, who in these holy mysteries giveth us a pledge of life eternal; the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

The collect begins with the Father and the Son: "Almighty Father, whose dear Son." Maundy Thursday is not first a devotional recollection of the Upper Room, but a prayer to the Father concerning the Son's institution of the sacrament on the night before his suffering. The phrase "on the night before he suffered" refuses to detach the Eucharist from the Passion. The Supper is given under the shadow of betrayal, trial, and crucifixion.

"Mercifully grant" makes worthy and thankful reception a gift of grace. The congregation asks to receive "the same," that is, the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood, "in remembrance of him." The final clause calls these "holy mysteries" a "pledge of life eternal," so the prayer holds together memorial, sacramental gift, and eschatological hope. Its ending is explicitly Trinitarian: the same Son lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, "ever, one God, world without end."

1928 Holy Week Proper

The Society of Archbishop Justus transcription preserves the comparative notes around the 1928 American proper:

commonly called Maundy Thursday. added to title, 1928. Collect added in 1928.

The 1928 revision did not invent Maundy Thursday as a liturgical day. It gave the older Thursday before Easter a new American collect, added "commonly called Maundy Thursday" to the title, narrowed the Epistle in the printed 1928 proper to 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, and added John 13:1-17 as an alternate Gospel. The older Church of England 1662 text shows the inherited lectionary setting without the later American collect:

Thursday before Easter ... The Epistle ... 1 Corinthians 11.17-end ... The Gospel ... St. Luke 23.1-49

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the older Holy Week pattern into which the 1928 collect was inserted:

The whole week was observed with greater strictness and solemnity than the rest of Lent. This custom is retained in the Church of England by giving a special character to the daily services, in the appointment of Epistles and Gospels for each day, and thus collecting most of those portions of scripture which relate to the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour.

They also explain the name and older ceremonial setting of the day:

The Thursday in this week is called Coena Domini, and Mandate or Maundy Thursday, from the anthem 'Mandatum novum do vobis' sung at the washing of the feet (Jo. xiii. 34) which gave its name to the ceremony.

The collect therefore stands at a junction of institution, commandment, and Passion. The 1928 American text emphasizes the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood; the alternate John 13 Gospel keeps the "mandatum" and foot-washing visibly attached to the day.

Appointed Epistle

The 1928 printed Epistle is 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, the bracketed institution narrative from the older 1 Corinthians 11:17-end appointment. It gives the collect its phrases "on the night before he suffered," "Sacrament of his Body and Blood," and "remembrance":

I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

The collect's "thankfully receive" is not bare sentiment. The Epistle says the Supper proclaims "the Lord's death till he come." Thanksgiving is therefore eucharistic and cruciform: the Church gives thanks for the sacrament because in it Christ commands remembrance of the death by which he gives life.

The same doctrine appears in the 1928 Communion office. The Prayer of Consecration joins the institution words to Christ's once-offered sacrifice:

who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again

This keeps Maundy Thursday within classical Anglican eucharistic doctrine. The sacrifice is Christ's one oblation on the Cross; the Church continues the commanded memorial and receives the sacramental Body and Blood in faith.

The 1928 Catechism gives the same pattern in catechetical form:

For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby.

The collect's "pledge of life eternal" belongs to this same catechetical theology. The sacrament is remembrance of Christ's death and reception of its benefits, not a separated devotion to the Upper Room.

Appointed Gospel

The principal 1928 Gospel is St. Luke 23:1-49. It carries the collect's "night before he suffered" forward into the trial and crucifixion. Luke repeatedly declares Christ's innocence while showing him delivered to death:

And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.

The collect does not mention the Cross explicitly, yet its date and readings do. "The night before he suffered" is followed immediately by the Gospel of the righteous one condemned in place of sinners. Luke then gives the penitent thief's confession and Christ's promise:

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Here the "pledge of life eternal" is shown in narrative form. The crucified King gives paradise to the penitent, so the sacrament instituted on the night before the Passion is a pledge because the Passion itself opens the kingdom.

The alternate Gospel, St. John 13:1-17, gives the Maundy theme directly:

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

The 1928 collect asks for thankful reception; John 13 shows the charity and humility into which that reception must lead. Maundy Thursday is not only the birthday of eucharistic remembrance but also the day of Christ's commandment of love.

Anglican Interpretation

E. J. Rowland summarizes the double tone of Maundy Thursday, joy at the institution and nearness to the Passion:

For a short while the Church lays aside her mourning to rejoice in the institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper. But there are signs that her joy is to be short-lived and that the Passion is close at hand.

That is also the 1928 collect's tone. It is grateful and sacramental, but the gratitude is placed "on the night before he suffered." Rowland also connects the day's Gospel tradition with the Maundy:

The Gospel is the account of the washing of the disciples' feet, commemorated in the ceremony of the Maundy of which more will be said later.

Percy Dearmer's Anglican ceremonial manual gives a related account of the day as a convergence of Eucharist, penitence, and foot-washing:

Maundy-Thursday, the Birthday of the Eucharist as it was well called, was also most appropriately the day of the Reconciliation of Penitents, in accordance with that 'godly discipline' which our Prayer Book recommends.

Dearmer adds the historical explanation of the name:

The very early ceremony of washing the feet of twelve or thirteen poor men was also confined to bishops and other great ecclesiastical and secular personages. Cranmer practised and defended the custom. Queen Elizabeth kept it up, herself washing and kissing the feet of as many poor persons as corresponded with her age.

These witnesses help locate the 1928 American collect. The prayer does not attempt to reproduce every older Holy Week ceremony. Instead, it gathers the day into a compact eucharistic petition: may the faithful receive the sacrament thankfully, remember Christ according to his command, and receive in the holy mysteries the pledge of eternal life.

Anglican Use

In 1928 BCP worship, the collect is appointed for Maundy Thursday at the proper office and at Holy Communion when the day is observed. It is especially suited to catechesis on the relation between Holy Communion and the Passion: the Supper is instituted before the Cross, the Cross gives the Supper its saving content, and the sacrament pledges the eternal life won by the crucified and risen Lord.

For preaching or teaching, the collect can be read in four movements. First, the Father gives the dear Son, who institutes the Sacrament on the night before suffering. Second, the Church asks mercy for thankful reception. Third, remembrance is defined by 1 Corinthians 11 and the Communion office as remembrance of Christ's death and sacrifice until he comes. Fourth, the "pledge of life eternal" is illumined by Luke 23, where the crucified Christ promises paradise, and by John 13, where those who receive from the Lord are taught to love and serve one another.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
• Lent in the 1928 BCP
• Holy Week in the 1928 BCP
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Words of Institution (1928 BCP)
• Collect for Wednesday before Easter (1928 BCP)
• Collect for Good Friday (1928 BCP)

External Links

• 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Collects, Epistles and Gospels
• Church of England: Thursday before Easter
• Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XIII
• E. J. Rowland, Holy Week and Easter: The Services Explained
• Percy Dearmer, The Parson's Handbook, chapter VIII
• Comparative U.S. Prayer Book propers