Holy Week Helps

During Holy Week we are reminded of what we are commemorating, the very love that Christ has for us, the great love of God who was so good to us that he experienced a cruel death out of love for each and every one of us. The Gospel of the Passion tells us what it is that the Lord suffered for us during these great events and how they affected us as Christians to this day. So we see the Last Supper. We see Good Friday and the death of the Lord on the cross. And ultimately, once the stone is rolled across the tomb, we await the Resurrection.

And so we see two Passovers. Remember the Passover that the Jews were to celebrate at the time of these Passion events. Why was everyone going to Jerusalem? It was to prepare for this great feast where the Jewish people commemorated the Passover by slaughtering the Passover Lamb. Remember the first Passover? The angel of death passed over the homes where the blood of that lamb marked the lintel of the home and the first born was saved. From that event, the people of Israel exited Egypt, exited their slavery through the Red Sea to go to the Promised Land. That was the first Passover.

The Gospel of the Passion discusses a second Passover. At this Passover so many years later we see a new lamb, the Lamb of God, that unblemished lamb whose sacrifice we partake of, who has washed us in his blood. Once the blood of that Lamb enters our souls, we also will be saved. Not only will the firstborn be saved, the firstborn of God, the people of Israel, but now all people can be saved, all people who partake of the lamb have that ability. We the Gentiles can be saved because we been marked with the blood of that Lamb, the blood of Christ who died for us.

During Holy Week, we enter into these great mysteries just as the Jews did. They did not merely remember these past events but they also entered into them as something that is still happening in their lives and we do the same. The sacred rites that we celebrate this week are outward signs of a reality that we continually partake in. We continually partake in Holy Thursday when we participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We continually partake of Good Friday when we receive the Eucharist. We are  washed in the Blood of Christ in the confessional. We continually partake of the passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord every time we come to Mass. This is not just a past event. It is an event that should have an effect on us every day. So this week is set aside as holy, to be holy, and we should make this week holy for ourselves.

 Make this week a remembrance of Christ’s Passion. Do things differently. Allow Christ to enter your normal schedule, to interrupt your normal life so that you might pray more, have more time for quiet. Turn off the TV. Silence the phone. Just think. What if you did not listen to a single ounce of news this week? No newspaper. No CNN. You wouldn’t need any more Prozac! But, too, you will be recognizing that there are many events that happen throughout the world, but none of them are more important than the event of Christ’s Passion, death and resurrection. Let us make that truth a priority this week. Make it a priority to enter into this Holy Week with more silence, more prayer, more introspection, more church. Why? Because we need this. We need this intense week of holiness to remind us for the rest of the year that the sacrifice of Christ is more important than anything else in the world. If Christ did not die for you, your life would be nothing. Death would still have power over you. If Christ did not die for you, you would not have grace. If Christ did not die for you, you would not have heaven. If Christ did not die for you, you would be worthless. But because Christ died for you, you have grace in this world, and you have heaven in the next world. Your nature has been exalted above even that of the Angels. Why? Because Christ died for you. Let us show him how much we love him by our actions this Holy Week.

--Father Jacob Meyer,Visitor, Confraternity of Penitents

Meditation on the Cross of Christ

We adore you O Christ and we praise You because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world. The readings of Good Friday's liturgy tell us of the life-consuming love of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Through them we are given an opportunity to ponder the scandal of the Cross. Through them, we recall the day when the human race renounced its Savior and condemned the immortal Son of God to an ignominious death. The Master of the Universe allowed himself to be stripped of all dignity and respect. He who was shown no compassion was moved by compassion and love for the human race. He who was lifted up on the cross chose to lay down His life to redeem us from our bondage to sin and death. By His death on the cross Christ has conquered death and granted eternal life to all who were consigned to the land of great darkness and gloom. The people who dwelt in darkness were bathed in the light of life that radiated from the wood of Christ's blood-stained cross. By means of the cross and His glorious wounds our divine Master brought newness of life to all the children of Adam and Eve.

We venerate your cross, O Lord, and we glorify Your resurrection. Through the cross you have brought joy to the whole world.   On Good Friday, the cross of Christ is presented to us to refresh our souls and to renew our hope. The cross teaches us that through humiliation, rejection and suffering we shall see the fulfillment of our hopes. Having toiled and endured the heat of the day, we are invited to sit in the shade of the life-giving Cross and there find comfort, refreshment and rejuvenation. Christ, who suffered for us and died on the cross, invites us to lay our burdens down and to drink deeply from springs of salvation. He stretches out His nail-pierced hands and gathers us close to His heart so He can carry us into the presence of the Eternal Father. By His sufferings and fidelity unto death Christ has purchased us and made of us a priestly people for the worship of His Father.

Behold the wood of the cross on which has hung the salvation of the world. Come let us adore! The cross is the sign that marks all of creation as restored by God’s redeeming love. Our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of all mankind. He endured His passion and death to cleanse us from our sins and to clothe us in the garment of righteousness. Through the mystery of the Incarnation Jesus took to Himself all our grief and all our iniquities. He willingly entered into the depths of our affliction and trouble. Our Lord Jesus Christ yielded up His last breath on the cross and made his soul a free-will offering for our sins. He offered satisfaction for our sins by His sufferings and death, casting them into the abyss never to be seen again. In His humiliation we have been exalted. Through His ultimate act of surrender Jesus offered to the Father the first fruits of the new creation. The Immortal One died so that mortal men live in the light of life. The Holy One of Israel was condemned as a sinner so that the sinful offspring of Adam and Eve might be redeemed. He entered into the Holy of Holies on our behalf, Jesus has become the source of eternal salvation for all who believe in Him. Because He was rejected, we have become “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own, so that we might announce the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

Lofty tree, bend down your branches, to embrace your sacred load; oh relax the native tension of that all too rigid wood; gently bear the members of your dying king and God. The cross of Christ is a powerful sign of the infinite love and passionate desire God has for us. The apostle Paul wrote these words to the Church at Rome. "God has shown us how much He loves us. It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). At about three o’clock the One who has once offered to satisfy the thirst of all who labored asked for a drink. Scarcely able to lift up His head and with parched lips, He whispered: "I thirst." As the soldier raised the moistened sponge to His lips, Jesus looked into the eyes of His heavenly Father and said, “It is finished!” With those words, He bowed his head and died. The Beloved Son had fulfilled the task for which He was sent. Like a faithful servant returning to his master, Jesus reported his progress: “I have overcome all the difficulties. I have done the job to the best of my ability. It is finished.” According to Jewish tradition, when the priest accepted a sacrificial offering would say to the congregant, “Your offering is accepted; the sacrifice is complete.” Jesus has accomplished all that He had come to do. Sinful humanity had returned to its Maker in total obedience, and the gap that sin caused between God and man was closed. As Jesus’ lifeless body hung on the cross, we can imagine the Father saying to Jesus, “Well done, my good and faithful Son … Come and share your Father’s joy” (Cf. Mat. 25:21). And to the people who looked upon the scene, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mat. 3:17). The cross tells us that the task for which the Son came into the world is finished.

O faithful cross! O worthy tree! You alone are loftier than all cedars, on you hung the life of the world, on you Christ triumphed, and death conquered death forever.

--Father Jerome Machar, OSCO