More Things about Maundy Thursday

In a book called The Deadly Deception: Freemasonry Exposed by One of Its Top Leaders by Jim Shaw and Tom McKenney, we read that 33-degree Jim Shaw walked away from Freemasonry one day, after participating in a a Masonic Maundy Thursday "black communion" ceremony in his Scottish Rites Temple in Florida. Participants of this ceremony are required to refer to Jesus as an "apostle of mankind who was neither inspired or divine". They then proceed to mock Jesus further by enacting a strange "black communion" ceremony. (Pages 105-107)

Here's what happens during the Maundy Thursday ritual of freemasonry:

MAUNDY THURSDAY

In the Scottish Rite the Thursday before Easter, "Maundy Thursday," is an important day. On this day we always performed a special service of Communion in the local Scottish Rite Temple. At this time I was Wise Master in the Chapter of Rose Croix and it was my job to preside over the exemplification (dramatization) of the ceremony. I had done this many times and was known for my knowledge of the service and for "doing a good job" of putting it on.

THE WORDS HAD MEANING NOW

On Thursday evening we gathered at our home Temple and dressed for the ceremony. It was always a most solemn occasion and seemed a little awesome, even to those of us who had done it many times.

Dressed in long, black, hooded robes, we marched in, single file, with only our faces partly showing, and took our seats.

There was something very tomb-like about the setting. The silence was broken only by the organ, playing mournfully in the background, and there was no light except for the little that came through the windows. After the opening prayer (from which the name of Jesus Christ was conspicuously excluded), I stood and opened the service.

As I had done so many times before, I said, "We meet this day to commemorate the death of our 'Most Wise and Perfect Master,' not as inspired or divine, for this is not for us to decide, but as at least the greatest of the apostles of mankind."

As I spoke these words that I had spoken so many times before, I had a strange and powerful experience. It was as if I were standing apart, listening to myself as I spoke, and the words echoed deep within me, shouting their significance. They were the same words I had spoken so many times before, but had meaning for me now. They made me sick, literally ill, and I stopped.

The realization of what I had just said grew within me like the rising of a crescendo. I had just called Jesus an "apostle of mankind" who was neither inspired nor divine! There was a silent pause that seemed to last a very long time as I struggled with a sick smothering within.

When I was finally able, I continued with the service and we gathered around a large table across the room in marching order. The table was long, shaped like a cross, and covered with a red cloth which was decorated down the center with roses....

-From an excerpt from Jim Shaw's book: The Deadly Deception, pp. 99 - 109
[SOURCE - www.scribd.com]

Read more at above link.

And one more interesting note (as Tenebrae service of darkness occurs on this night):

LUX E TENEBRIS Latin, meaning Light out of darkness. A motto very commonly used in the caption of Masonic documents as expressive of the object of Freemasonry, and what the true Freemason supposes himself to have attained. It has a recondite meaning. In the primeval ages and in the early mythology, darkness preceded light. "In the thought," says Cox, "of these early ages, the sun was the child of night or darkness" (Aryan Mythology I, page 43).

So lux being Truth or Freemasonry, and tenebrae, or darkness, the symbol of initiation, luxe tenebris is Masonic truth proceeding from initiation. A Lodge at London comprising Brethren devoted especially to the welfare of blind persons has been given this appropriate name.

- Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

Related reading:

A Thing Called Tenebrae
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