This time of the season always possesses the invitation into despair, a darkness pervading.  Churches remove the exposed Eucharist.  There is no where you can go for Adoration.  The Eucharist is not there.  The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration strip their monstrance from its perch, the space barren, stark, and empty.  Tenebrae, Latin for shadows, the celebration of Matins and Lauds, the extinguishing of candles lends to the time of darkness, a pre-condition beckoning an act of finality.  The Last Supper Mass, Thursday of Holy Week, I celebrated the day with the Poor Clares.  I was supposed to get my feet washed, however I was enjoying participating in the hymnal, being led in song by Sister Mary Joseph…forgive us now each one our sins…in Christian holiness.  The readings and Homily stressed the importance of the Eucharist, the establishing of the priesthood, and loving Christian devotion centered upon trust, hope, and faith.  Father Roger stated that without the Eucharist our efforts are meaningless and vain.  He emphatically invited all the attending to participate in Adoration after Mass.  The Eucharist was hidden away, behind curtains, in a side tabernacle beneath the Sacred Heart of Jesus, just to the right of where I routinely encamp.  There was a procession before the Adoration, the entire congregation walking around the shrine, honoring and following the Eucharist before it was hidden away to memorialize Holy Week.  I wrapped my Rosary around my wrist, joining the procession.  Seating myself for a Holy Hour, witnessing a reposed Eucharist, an idea inspiringly arose.

I recalled Pope John Paul II in his encyclical honoring the Rosary, defining the Illumanitive Mysteries, inviting the devoted to be creative, to authentically establish their own mysteries in which to pray the Rosary.  It sprouted in my mind to pray five decades of the Rosary in honor of mysteries surrounding the Last Supper.  The first mystery would concentrate upon the Passover, the Old Covenant, the Old Testament; the Israelites saved from slavery, protected from the final horrible plague inflicted upon the Egyptians by marking their homes with the blood of a sacrificed lamb.

The second of the Last Supper mysteries is the gathering of Jesus, the apostles and Mary in the upper-room for the Passover feast, the new honoring the old, friends gathering in respect to tradition.  Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover?”

The third Last Supper mysteries is Jesus washing the feet of the apostles, the establishing of the priesthood, the birth of priestly duties.  Sublimely and lovingly, the reality of damnation is dealt with.

…he (Jesus) rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
Simon Peter said to him,
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
Jesus said to him,
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
for he is clean all over;
so you are clean, but not all.”
For he knew who would betray him;
for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

The fourth mystery is the breaking of bread and the anointing of wine, sacraments given birth, the Eucharist aising.  As a priest the wise St Paul writes:

Brothers and sisters:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread, and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

 The final Last Supper mystery announces the Sorrowful Mysteries.  The Passover feast is finished.  Jesus has concluded profound deeds.  The meal has been consumed.  Satan enters Judas and the story of God’s relationship with man advances.  The final mystery of the Last Supper Rosary is Judas setting up his performance of kissing Jesus.

“Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 
And they were very sorrowful,
and began to say to him one after another,
“Is it I, Lord?”
He answered,
“He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me.
The Son of man goes as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed!
It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 
Judas, who betrayed him, said,
“Is it I, Master?”
 He said to him, “You have said so.”