“Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos“
Maunday Thursday gets its name from the word “mandatum”. Jesus gave a new commandment on the night He was betrayed. The old Commandment was love your neighbor as yourself. The New is to love one another as Christ loved us. Jesus was bound by the will of His Father that He have a life of ministry and mercy and sacrifice for fallen humanity. He emptied Himself and took on the form of a servant to serve us. The commandment, because it is given by Christ, has in it the power to achieve it. The first letter of John. chapter 4 verses 7-12 –
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
