2020 - A Holy Week Like No Other Challenge and Call!
Sr. Barbara O’Dea, DW
We are broken people. We live in a broken world. The sharp divide between faith, religious beliefs, and the rest of life, with its challenges and multiplied responsibilities, increases.
Today, climate change caused by environmental disasters has reached terrifying levels. In this historical moment, all over the world, discriminatory politics and ideologies spawn divisions, fears, violence. Our society, rooted in productivity and consumption, keeps us running fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, without pauses in our calendars. A virus arrives! Shutdowns from closed borders to closed churches, schools, businesses, and a crumbling economy surround us. Mother Nature has a way of saying Enough!
In an age where social relationships take place in virtual space, social media create the illusion of proximity. The virus separates us still further: don’t touch, no hugs or kisses, not even the sign of peace. We keep distance in the cold of non-contact. For how long have we taken these gestures and their meaning for granted? The only way to get through this crisis is together, supporting one another as best we can.
When Jesus prayed for his disciples on the night before he died, he said, Father, protect them . . . that they may be One as we are One (Jn 17: 11). Unity, a sense of belonging, creates strong bonds among us. We recognize that we need to care for others and to allow others to care for us. Shared responsibility helps us recognize that our actions determine not only our own fate but that of those around us. We depend on one another.
How might it be possible to celebrate Holy Week with family or household in this time of crisis? Ponder the gifts and talents you have among you, the resources available to you that could help you follow the path Jesus opened up for us on the journey to Calvary. The sacrament of reconciliation is not an option right now. Our ability to offer and receive forgiveness remains. What else is possible? A few thoughts to get you started:
Palm Sunday – Take out the family Bible or download the passage on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem from the Web (Matt. 21: 1-11). Imagine the scene as it is read aloud. Spend a moment in silence, then invite anyone who wishes to share a thought. That simple effort will set the stage for the week. You might also consider watching the Mass on television-CFN, Optimum ch.29. The Eucharistic celebration will be sober this year without the processions and crowds, but it will enlarge your circle of prayer.
Holy Thursday - As you gather for your evening meal, imagine the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus as you read the gospel of the day (Jn. 13: 1-15). Hear Jesus as he hands on his last will and testament to his apostles and through them to all. On the night before he died, Jesus left us two commandments. The first, when he knelt before them as a servant, washed their feet and said, “Do you know what I have done for you? Go forth and do likewise.” (Jn. 13: 1-15). At the end of the meal, perhaps the head of the household could take bread, followed by wine to illustrate Jesus’ words instituting the Eucharist, as another proclaims the story (1 Cor. 11: 23-26) That brief ceremony reveals the way of worship and the way of service Jesus left us as a legacy.
Good Friday – When I was young, the custom in our house was to be silent from noon to 3 pm on Good Friday, the time of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. The memory of that practice remains etched in my memory. If you, as parents or grandparents, have other memories, be sure to share them with the younger generation. Your stories will become part of their family heritage. Undoubtedly, TV schedules will offer other programs to commemorate the day. You may want to watch a movie on the Passion and death of Jesus, such as Jesus of Nazareth by Zeffirelli. (YouTube: Jesus of Nazareth, part 4 – 1 1/2 hrs.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5QNtin7TYI
Holy Saturday/Easter Sunday – Holy Saturday is a day for preparation for the glorious feast of the Resurrection. On Easter Sunday we will be ready to sing our Alleluia. In the midst of all the celebrations, religious, family and others, whisper a prayer for those catechumens whose baptisms may have been postponed. Let our prayers accompany them as they anxiously await their incorporation into the Body of Christ.
May these high holydays bring blessings of unity and love to you and yours on Easter and throughout the Easter Season!