Palm Sunday begins the Christian High Holy Days, seven days of prayer, reflection and remembering. Holy Week is a spiritual pilgrimage by which we experience the events we remember. We’re not to be distracted from the events of this week, so we cover the statues in the church to help us focus on Jesus. I encourage you to gather with the community this year to experience these, as our Jewish brothers and sisters would describe them, Days of Awe.
PALM SUNDAY
The drama begins. Two Gospel passages are read today. At the very beginning of Mass, we remember Jesus’ spectacular entrance into the city of Jerusalem. We gather outside the church in the vestibule, carry the same palm branches the people carried that day, and walk in procession into the church, symbolically, Jerusalem.
But a shadow quickly comes over this short celebration. We listen to the first scripture reading, the prayer of Isaiah’s Suffering Servant. “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked by beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord is my help, therefore I shall not be disgraced.”
For a moment, light pours over Isaiah’s prayer as we read the second scripture from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!”
Then, we read the Passion. We eat with Jesus at his last supper, join him in the garden of olives, witness his arrest and trial, and walk with him to the cross. Palm Sunday sets us on the path we’ll walk with Jesus for the next six days.
Lord, by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. You are the savior of the world.
MONDAY
Isaiah’s prophecy is meant to remind us of Jesus’
mission. “I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice. I have grasped you by the hand. I formed you and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.”
In the gospel, Mary, Martha and Lazarus host a dinner for Jesus. Mary pours perfumed oil over Jesus’ feet while Judas protests that the expensive oil could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus’ response to Judas is a prophecy. “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
TUESDAY
Isaiah prophecy seems to speak directly to Jesus. “It is too little for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel. I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
We sit at the table of the last supper as we read today’s gospel. “Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, ‘Amen. Amen. I say to you, one of you will betray me.’” Judas gets up from the table and walks out into the darkness of the night.
WEDNESDAY
The passion of Jesus is drawing near. We repeat Isaiah’s prophecy of the Suffering Servant. “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked by beard. My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord God is my help therefore I am not disgraced.”
The gospel reports to us. “One of the Twelve who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of sliver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.”
HOLY THURSDAY Everything focuses on the Eucharist today. The first scripture reading from the book of Exodus recalls the fall of manna, the bread rained down from heaven that sustained the Jewish people during their fortyyear journey to the promised land. This is the prophecy of the Eucharist to come.
In the second reading, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the mystery he shared with them. “I received from the Lord what I handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.’”
John gives us the details of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples at his last supper with them. This greatest of his teachings pleads with us, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
GOOD FRIDAY
This is the Day of Awe, the most sacred day of our year. Are any of us worthy to approach the cross of the Son of God? Aware of the sins we commit against each other, aware of the sins nations commit against other nations, aware of our need for redemption, we kneel in silence. The celebrant, not even worthy to kneel, prostrates himself before the mystery of the Crucified Lord. There’s no greater love than the love we feel today.
Lord, by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. You are the Savior of the world.
HOLY SATURDAY
I invite you once again to join the community in the celebration of Holy Week, our High Holy Days. The homily that follows is meant to spark your reflection and prayer.
From an ancient Holy Saturday Homily Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh, and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began, God has died in the flesh and hell trembles in fear.
He has gone in search of our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives, Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached
them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him, Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried to everyone: “The Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your Spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now, by my own authority, command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all you who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to wake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise up from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who are created in my own image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.
For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is in the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For your sake, who left a garden, I was betrayed in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.
See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore you to the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.
