Thursday

O sacred banquet!

Thursday, the day on which the holy Eucharist was instituted, has always been consecrated to the remembrance and worship of this sacred mystery.  Of course we must not seek a Eucharistic import in every Psalm of the Office; it is not the spirit of the liturgy to systematize things so precisely.  The theme of each day's Office runs softly and unobtrusively through the Hours of the day.  But one Hour, Prime, which on every day has something of a Eucharistic character, is devoted entirely on Thursday to the thought of the Holy Eucharist.  In the other Hours there is a more or less marked reference to the Eucharist:  at Matins, Psalm 67; at Lauds and Vepsers, the Psalms; Terce, too, can be turned into a Eucharistic prayer.  The last Psalms of Matins remind us of Jesus' agony in the Garden of Olives.