Thoughts on Holy Week

Holy week is a time for prayer - at least for Catholics who take their faith seriously. In this week the Church leads us in a spiritual journey to Calvary and reminds us of the series of events in the passion of our Lord. The passion is of course a very tragic event. For the One who came with no other purpose than to cleanse humanity from sin was reviled, flogged and sewn on a piece of wood to die an ignominious death. But the passion too is God's signature of love. How else could redemption be worth anything except to do it through the sharpest kind of pain? Were God's Son to triumph like a fairy tale prince and "live happily even after", salvation would have been a hollow proposition. No, God's love for man is immeasurable. There is no limit to what the Son of Man can go through if only to purify man and make him worthy of a place in His Father's house.

Some skeptics say Jesus could do it easily because he was God. But they forget that he was also man in the purest sense of the term. He was clothed with all the attributes of manhood - except the tendency to sin. He was born like all humans are, raised as humans are, and underwent the day to day subsistence ordeal of mortal beings.

At Gethsemane fear gripped Him and he sweated blood as he prayed. "Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from me; still not my will but yours be done". It was a man feeling apprehensive of what was to come. And an angel, according to Luke, had to appear to give Jesus the strength to go through the ordeal. Later when they scourged him blood oozed out from His torn flesh and every swing of the lash made him grimaced in pain. Still later, when they nailed his hands and feet, he groaned as the naked steel slashed into His appendages. And finally, before breathing His last, a sense of being cast off seized Him. "Father, why have you abandoned me!"

Unless one understands fully the human qualities of Jesus he cannot fully appreciate His sacrifices in the Cross. He cannot see his own worth as a creation of God, one who deserves His love, and is worthy of every drop of blood the Son of Man shed during the holocaust. He cannot understand the reasons behind the great event memorialized in the Holy Week.

The Holy Week, the Church teaches us, is more than a commemoration of the Great Sacrifice. It is an occasion that should draw us closer to the Lord and make us realize how important it is to preserve the integrity of our soul. Why should God die for me? This thought should prick our conscience as we go through this week of suffering and redemption.

The Church also teaches us that as Christians we are obliged to be alter Christus, another Christ. Baptism, it is said, made each of us a priest of our own life, tasked to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. As such we are expected to strive for holiness. Now that seems to be a tall order.

Holiness in the face of a cruel would? Holiness despite the sharp pangs of poverty? Holiness in the world of cheats and grafters, of gambling lords and drug pushers and terrorists? Saint Josemaria Escriva's has the following words to soften our anguish: "What illumines our conscience is faith in Christ, who has died and risen and is present in every moment of life. Faith moves us to play our full part in the changing situations and in the problems of human history. In this history, which began with the creation of the world and will reach its fulfillment at the end of time, the Christian is no expatriate. He is a citizen of the city of men, and his soul longs for God. While still on earth he has glimpse of God's love and comes to recognize it as the goal to which all men on earth are called".

As we contemplate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, these thoughts should stand out: God's love and sacrifices to lift us to higher plane of life, our obligation to live like Christ in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, our commitment to love and serve whoever crosses our path in the world of men.