Holy Week

Holy Week is here. The actual journey to Calvary, part of God’s plan for salvation, actually begins with the fall in Eden and continues with the last breath of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection. The head of the snake will be crushed by the one promised by God and foretold by the prophets. The number of Scripture readings for Palm Sunday, the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) and Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday totals 33. The pascal mystery unfolds right before our eyes as we walk with Jesus from the glory of his entrance into Jerusalem all the way to the cross. Every step in between is another step closer to “eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Heb 5:9). Am I willing to walk the entire journey to Calvary with Jesus? 

Palm Sunday: Glory in the highest

It all began so well, that glorious day entering Jerusalem. The apostles were worried about the dangers Jesus would face in this city, knowing the desires of those in high command of the synagogue. Instead they were met with people lined for two miles and rejoicing to see Jesus as he rode in on a colt. Jesus was welcomed not as a simple pilgrim to the temple for Passover but as royalty, a military leader. With him were peace and glory, a similar vision sung by the angels at his Nativity. Yet, the palms are placed aside in a few days, for the very same people will raise their fists, for this day is also known as Passion Sunday.

Bread of life: When the hour came (Lk 22:14)

Jesus, at the wedding feast of Cana, told his mother, “My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:4). Here we see the hour has indeed come. This sacred meal will be the last Jesus shares with his apostles. Knowing this, he gave them the very same meal he gives us at each Mass. The saving bread of life is from the only one who can give us life. The institution of the Eucharist occurs just mere hours before Jesus’ arrest, as he speaks the transformative words, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you” (Lk 22:19-20). The real Passover sacrifice given the next day, Good Friday’s Passover, is the unblemished Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by offering the sacrifice of his life on the cross for you and me. Only Jesus, true God and true man, is the one who restores humanity with God the Father. 

The Last Supper depicts a two-fold reality: the institution of the priesthood and the institution of the Eucharist. Paragraph #1337 in The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the father, in the course of a meal he washed their feet and gave them the commandment of love. In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and Resurrection, and commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his return; ‘thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament.’ ” 

Via Dolorosa

“We adore You, O Christ, and we praise you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.” 

The Way of Sorrows begins in the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives, as Jesus prays. The intensity of his prayer proves so agonizing as he sees the sins of the world: past, present and future. All of them. Mine, yours, ours. He truly desires the will of God, knowing where this will lead him. His innocence lifts our guilt. His love outweighs our hate. His sorrow depletes our loss. His love restores our lives. Despite the betrayal of a friend, the denial of another, the abandonment of the rest, the condemnation of earthly authority, the beatings, stripping, mocking, spitting, crowning of thorns piercing his head, the carrying of the cross, the nails driven into in his hands and feet, the torment of the cross, loss of his blood and three hours of slow suffocation, he did not once turn back. He never abandoned his path. Step by step, with every ounce of energy left in his muscles, he kept on moving forward to Calvary, the destination of sacrifice for you and for me. From the cross he forgave, he opened heaven, he gave us to his mother, he felt the weight of the world in a moment of utter loneliness, he thirsted for souls, he accomplished his mission and returned to the father. 

St. Teresa of Calcutta writes, “Jesus did not save the world by his preaching, but by his suffering and death.” In reflecting on her thoughts Father Joseph Langford writes, “The Passion of Christ was Jesus’ moment of glory. For us, as for his first disciples, there is a deep mystery here, the mystery of the cross, in instrument of death that mysteriously becomes the tree of life.” (I Thirst: 40 Days With Mother Teresa, Augustine Institute, 2018) 

“Save us Savior of the world, for by your cross and Resurrecction you have set us free” (Memorial Acclamation, Roman Missal).

Let us rejoice and be glad

Three days the world went silent. The darkness of the tomb left the followers of Jesus back where they began, in the Upper Room. Fearful of experiencing the same fate as Jesus, they stayed behind a locked door in fear and bewilderment. St. John’s Gospel gives Mary Magdalene’s eyewitness account at sunrise on the third day of an open tomb, her testimony to the apostles and St. Peter peering in the tomb to find only neatly folded burial clothes. What just happened? What would I have thought? Would I rejoice? Would I believe like the other apostles? Perhaps, ask what do I believe today, here and now in 2022. Do I believe in the resurrection of Jesus? Can I testify to the good news, that Jesus, suffered, died and rose to save me from my sins and fill the chasm between me and God? Yes, for “this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad for he is good, for his mercy endures forever” (Ps 118). Amen. Alleluia!

Sequence Victimae Paschali Laudes

Christians, to the Paschal Victim Offer your thankful praises! A Lamb the sheep redeems; Christ, who only is sinless, reconciles sinners to the Father. Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: the Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal. Speak, Mary, declaring what you saw, wayfaring, “The tomb of Christ, who is living, the glory of Jesus’ resurrection; bright angels attesting, the shroud and napkin resting. Yes, Christ my hope is arisen; to Galilee he goes before you.” Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! Amen. Alleluia.

Dow is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Baton Rouge.