In the space of just over three months, we will have journeyed with our Lord from the crib to the cross…from Christmas to Good Friday. We weren’t there of course at the actual historical unfolding of these events in real-time over 2000 years ago. Holy Week, however, gives us a
very real way to be present with our Lord during the moments of His Passion. As difficult and as intense as this experience can be, where else would be rather be? Wouldn’t every one of us be willing to sacrifice a
moment in our lives to be with our Lord who was sacrificing His
entire life for each of us? Wouldn’t we like Saint Veronica want comfort Him as she did when she wiped Jesus’ face with her veil? Wouldn’t we like Simon of Cyrene want to help Jesus shoulder that cross He was carrying for us, especially after He had fallen a number of times? Wouldn’t we have wanted to be with our Blessed Mother as she stood by the cross of her Son, perhaps recalling the times she once held Him in her arms but now out of reach? The answer to these questions is found in the decision each one of us makes about how we choose to spend our time in the days ahead. When we enter into the Sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter) we are
not re-enacting as actors might re-enact a battle from the Revolutionary War or repeating an event (we are not re-crucifying Jesus for example). We are also doing more than just simply recalling or remembering. We are actually
re-entering the
actual events of the Pascal Mystery. We become truly present to the Lord at the Last Supper, the cross, and at His resurrection. These salvific events are
re-presented to us.
Holy Week this year is going to be a VERY different experience for us. No palms on Palm Sunday. No opportunity to gather together for Mass and services in our church building. On the day Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist, you, the lay faithful will not be able to receive Sacramental Communion. On Good Friday we will not gather to publicly venerate the Cross or have the live Stations of the Cross our teens were preparing for us. There will be no choir or music to ring in the arrival of Easter. And yet, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter will come. This year, it seems that these Sacred Mysteries in the life of Christ will have to be celebrated with greater faith, greater hope, and greater love. In some way, this year’s Holy Week is a lot closer to that first Holy Week. Indeed there were palms cheering our Savior into Jerusalem, but how quickly they were dropped and forgotten once Jesus was branded a “blasphemer” but so many doubters. At the Last Supper, the only ones who were able to receive Holy Communion, just like this present day, were those first priests, the Apostles. So many who wish to be with the Lord in Adoration are unable to do so in our Garden of Gethsemane at our Church before our Lord in the Monstrance on Holy Thursday evening. Our Church buildings will be almost as empty and as barren as Calvary on Good Friday. On that first Easter Sunday, in contrast to the crowds that
normally fill our Churches, only three women approached the empty tomb and received the Good News of our Lord’s Resurrection.
It seems like much of the “physical” experience of our Holy Week celebration has been stripped away from us. Perhaps our Lord, this year, is helping us to grow a bit more spiritually as we rely more on our faith than on our senses. It is my prayer that all of us truly experience the power of our Lord’s Resurrection as we allow the Lord to raise us up out of the darkness of our doubt, our worries, our fears, our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities, our hang-ups, our brokenness, our fractured lives and world into the new life and light of Easter. Let us remember that after every Good Friday there is an Easter!! Looking forward to celebrating these Sacred Mysteries with all of you in Spirit this week.