Maundy Thursday in the UK has become associated with the distribution of Royal Maundy money by the Sovereign since the reign of King John.
For some reason I thought the number of recipients was determined by the years the Monarch has reigned but this has never been the case. It is the Monarch’s age and in recent times both men and women are recipients. Thus today the King will distribute Maundy money to 76 men and 76 women in Durham Cathedral. But I digress. Maundy Thursday is the anniversary of the Last Supper, the arrest of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and marks the beginning of Christ’s Passion.
Who Moved the Stone? was published in 1930 and has been reprinted more than thirty times, most recently last year, so you may have read it. If not, you should. It explores and explains Christ’s arrest, trial, Crucifixion and Resurrection. Early on Morison provides convincing evidence that Christ was arrested at about 11.30 pm on Thursday night. The author began his investigation as a sceptic and finished as a believer. It casts fresh light on Christ’s Passion and the certainty of His Resurrection.
“I owe Morison a great debt of gratitude. Who Moved the Stone? was an important early link in a long chain of evidence that God used to bring me into his kingdom. Morison’s stirring intellectual exploration of the historical record proved to be an excellent starting point for my spiritual investigation.
The disciples didn’t merely believe in the resurrection; they knew whether it was fact or fiction. Had they known it was a lie, they would never have been willing to sacrifice their lives for it. Nobody willingly dies for something that they know is false. They proclaimed the resurrection to their deaths for one reason alone: they knew it was true. And based on the historical data I had examined, I became convinced they were right.” (Lee Strobel, American author and journalist)
The Taking of Christ depicts the arrest of Jesus by Caravaggio. Originally commissioned by the Roman nobleman Ciriaco Mattei in 1602, it hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, on loan from the Society of Jesus.
A most interesting and uplifting post Christopher. Happy Easter!
Last year the Ulster Museum exhibited Caravaggio’s ‘The Supper at Emmaus’ and ‘The Taking of Christ’ – seldom seen together since leaving Ciriaco Mattei’s palace in Rome.
https://www.ulstermuseum.org/past-exhibition/national-treasures-caravaggio-belfast
We are in Dublin for Easter and plan to see the Caravaggio. We are having lunch at the Merrion and will raise a glass.