Top photo: Bishop O’Connell washed the feet of 12 parishioners during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in St. Rose Church, Belmar. Mike Ehrmann photo
During the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, April 2 in St. Rose Church, Belmar, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., spoke with conviction about the Mass as being the “unambiguous and non-negotiable core of our Catholic faith, intrinsically and integrally sown together as the one fabric of our Christian lives. One divine cloth that can never be torn or ripped apart because this is what the Church is and why the Church was established and what the Church does.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Mass of the Lord’s Supper in Belmar
Holy Thursday celebrates the institution of the Eucharist as the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and the institution of the Sacrament of the priesthood. In his homily, Bishop O’Connell recalled the “dramatic events that make this day in this week holy.”
At the start of Mass, parishioners brought forth the vessels of Holy Oils – Oil of the Sick, Oil of the Catechumens and Sacred Chrism — that were blessed and consecrated by Bishop O’Connell at the March 30 Mass of Chrism in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold.
After the homily, Bishop O’Connell followed Jesus’ example and washed the feet of 12 parishioners.
Following the Mass, the ancient ceremony of the transfer of the Blessed Sacrament to the chapel of repose took place. Members of the congregation joined Bishop O’Connell and Msgr. Edward Arnister, pastor, who carried the Blessed Sacrament, in a procession around the inside perimeter of Sacred Heart Church.
Check back on TrentonMonitor.com where stories and photos of the Sacred Triduum taking place in parishes of the Diocese will be posted.