We enter into a sacred time this week. Palm Sunday has the full name of “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.” What I find most powerful about Palm Sunday is not the blessing of palms to take home, which is certainly nice, but the long reading the gospel of the Passion of Jesus. That is what this week is about—what Jesus has done for us in his last supper, agony in the garden, crucifixion and death! We get to listen and reflect on two full chapters (Ch. 14 and 15) of the Gospel of Mark. It is overwhelming, and due to time restraints we can’t even hardly preach on it or scratch the surface. If you come to the service on Good Friday, you get the passion account according to the Gospel of John. But other than these days, with only a couple minor exceptions, we never get to hear these gospels the rest of the year. There is so much here, so I can only ask you to dig deep into it yourself this week.
I’m so glad we get to celebrate these holy days with Masses and services, with people this year! There are still a few minor modifications we were either instructed to do and had to make a few judgments on. We won’t have the washing of feet at the Holy Thursday Mass. It is always optional anyway. But we do get to have Mass, recall the Last Supper, have a final simple procession out of church into the chapel, and have the possibility for folks to pray through the evening into night. On Good Friday, we can’t have folks touch or kiss the cross as we venerate the cross, so we are going to have some silent prayer during that time of the service, and then leave the cross out after if you would like to approach it closer. But everything else will be the same. The Easter Vigil will also be pretty close to normal. We will have to ask folks to stay in pews for the beginning blessing of the fire just outside the front doors—to avoid people clustering and then having to figure out where to sit in the pews with the distancing protocols. But after that, the vigil will continue pretty much normally. There might be some other very small adjustments, mostly to keep time down, but honestly nothing much you should notice. The main thing is we get to celebrate all these holy events WITH a congregation this year, yay! I’m excited!
It was so traumatic last year at this time when everything shut down. And I know this has been a difficult year for many, and some have lost loved ones due to COVID. But I think we are very ready for this Holy Week, because in a way, we’ve sort-of lived a version of it this whole last year. We had our own last suppers and gatherings, and perhaps you have not yet had a chance yet to re-gather again with some loved ones around a table. We probably had lots of prayer as we dealt with anxieties and fears—our own agony in the garden. We had sufferings, took some beatings, and had many things stripped away. There was death too. I’m not saying we experienced all Jesus did, but we certainly experienced something, and that might help us relate and connect to Jesus in a deeper way. I am most excited about Easter and celebrating the Resurrection. There is hope and new life by getting through all this!
My encouragement is for you to go deep this Holy Week. If you can attend in person or watch live-streams, please do. But all of us should try to pray and reflect more on what Jesus has done for us in the Pascal Mystery—His crucifixion, death, and Resurrection. Have a very blessed Holy Week!