Holy Week

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed. This week is the holiest time on the Christian calendar. We begin by walking with our Lord during His Passion. As His people turn on Him, as his disciples and friends abandon, and even deny Him, we are asked to recommit ourselves to our Lord and Redeemer, who endured so very much in order to save us. The liturgical celebrations this week are unique, and it is extremely sad, even disturbing, to know there are Catholics who have never celebrated the Triduum. They have never witnessed the commemoration of “The Washing of Feet,” never reverenced The Cross on Good Friday, and never “stayed awake” to spend quality time with their Lord during The Easter Vigil, as we recall God’s great “Plan of Salvation” which has been unfolding since the dawn of time, from the moment we were expelled from The Garden. It is important not to simply skip over The Passion and go directly to Easter and the empty Tomb. We need to walk with our Lord through these most sacred & holy of days.

However, that being said, as important as Jesus’s Passion is to the salvation of the world and the establishment of the eternal Covenant, it is what happens on the other side of His tomb that is most essential to our Redemption. While there are many who simply skip ahead to the last chapter, there are some (perhaps a growing number) of people who never get past Calvary. They remain at the foot of The Cross and live lives solely focused on the suffering of Christ. Their faith is marked by “sorrow & suffering,” and they seem to be missing “the joy, the glory & the hope” of Easter. They are so focused on The Passion that they miss the whole point of it. For without The Resurrection there would be no victory! Without God calling His Son to come forth from the grave to New and Everlasting Life, there would be no Salvation. Yes, The Passion was necessary, but The Resurrection completes it. It is not a story of sorrow & death, but abundant JOY & LIFE!

We have spent 40 days in sackcloth & ashes, but now is the time to clean our faces, put on our baptismal garments, and step into The Light of Salvation! It is almost time to peer into the empty tomb and REJOICE!!! For our Lord has defeated death. He has wiped the slate of sin clean. It is almost time to ring the bells, shout Alleluia, and sing a joyful song! Our God is not a god of darkness and death, but of LIGHT & LIFE! We serve a God not of sorrow & despair, but of JOY & HOPE!

So let us walk these last days with our Lord. Let us break The Bread of the New & Eternal Covenant. Let us spend some time in the garden in prayer with our Savior, and walk with Him to Calvary. We do this so we will have the courage and faith to peer into the tomb and give witness that it is indeed empty. We do all this so that we will be fully prepared for Glory of Easter! …and to proclaim, “Alleluia! Alleluia! He has Risen!!!”

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick